Halloween Thief!
by thoughts like stars
Summary: When the gang finds out that some of Rudy's awards have been stolen, Jack and Kim are on the case.The guys also find a new friend that they think is a ghost. Or maybe wanting to get close to the dojo? *co-written with ConfusingStateOfMind*
1. Chapter 1

**IMPORTANT A/N- Hey all my Kickin' It lovers! You may know me from **_**Kim-Napped**_**, and **_**Kickin' It to JAPAN**_**! Okay, so this happens to be the third Fanfiction I am writing, and the First Fanfic that I am co-writing! Yep, that's right, this story is written by me (Taylor), AND ConfusingStateOfMind! There's another story we've both been working that's yet-to-be published on her account, so keep your eyes open for that! I'm really excited for both these stories! But before we start I want to first give a shout out to: AlphaBetaSoup, MusicFureak, iLuvNickiMinaj and xSaltWaterTaffyx. These writers helped me to create these two story ideas, and took the time for some advice, so I just want to say to these people once again, Thank you guys so much for all your help, these two stories are dedicated to you, and everybody else who read my previous stories, or who is reading this! And check out their stories too! They have some good ones! **

**Okay, so I hope you guys enjoy my THIRD fanfic and FIRST co-written Fanfiction: **_**Halloween Thief**_**!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN KICKIN' IT! ONLY MARCUS. **

**~Each Chapter will be divided in two parts. Part one being Jack and Kim's story, and Part Two being Milton, Jerry and Eddie's story (Rudy can go in any two parts). In each part, it can go in different points of view, just like my previous stories. ENJOY! **

_**Part 1: (Kim's POV) **_

Here's my favorite part of Halloween, besides getting to trick or treat in monstrous costumes: DECORATING!

I was putting Orange and Black streamers along our walls of the Dojo. Hey, just because it's all principled and we have to do karate, doesn't mean it can't have Halloween Spirit! Anyway, the front of the Dojo had lots of decorations, like plastic spider webs and _BOO!_ Signs. I was jittering with excitement, because I knew this was going to be the best Halloween EVER. Last year, it was all boring with the Black Dragons. All Frank did was steal candy from little girls. We were in the dojo the whole night, so I couldn't even trick or treat! But now, things are going to be different because I got all of my friends, Milton, Jerry, Eddie, Rudy, and…

Jack.

My mind went on him. I mean, he was nice and a good friend and all, but he can be really stupid when he accuses me of having a "crush" on him. I DO NOT, and I repeat DO NOT have a crush on him.

Right?

Ugh, if Jack were reading my thoughts, he would say "denial" in a high sing-y tone. Well, I mean maybe I do like him a little bit, after he was being a good friend protecting me from that bottle blond jerk, Ricky Weaver. He was so nice and protective and he was looking out for me and…

_Stop thinking about Jack, Kim! _

"Kim?" I heard Jack say as he walked in. Oh, speak of the devil.

"Hi," I said simply, hanging ghost masks.

"Did you do all of this?" Jack said looking around in amazement.

"Yep! No thanks necessary," I said triumphantly.

"Gee, you look… I mean they look amazing Kim," He said quickly still looking around with his mouth wide open. He turned to me and flashed a smile. God, do I like that smile. _STOP IT, KIM!_

I saw Milton, Jerry and Eddie walk in, with another, odd-looking but kind of familiar kid.

"Hey what up Jack?" Jerry said. Then he saw me and smiled annoyingly. "Kim! Have you guys been bonding?"

"What? You could've told us first! I wanted to get that on video!" Eddie whined.

I gave them a threatening look and their smiles disappeared. "Shut… up…" I said coldly.

"Guys, we didn't come here to see if Jack and Kim is a couple yet!" Milton said. "Jack, Kim, we want you to meet Marcus! He's knew to our school. Marcus, these are the other friends I've been telling you about, Jack and that's Kim." He said gesturing toward us.

"Nice to meet you." He said in a British accent. That seemed to have scared Jerry.

"Did I mention he's from England?" Milton asked happily.

"Hey Marcus!" Jack said reaching out his hand to shake. Marcus didn't shake his hand. He just gave him a smile.

"Good evening," He just said. Jack awkwardly took his hand away.

"Anyway, Marcus knows Karate just like us! I was going to ask Rudy if Marcus could join." Milton said. He looked around. "Where's Rudy?"

"I don't know, I was just here to decorate the dojo, and doesn't it look awesome?" I yelled with glee.

"Indeed, it is rather fascinating," Marcus said.

"Wait… don't you think you should be decorating your own house first?" Jack asked me.

"Already took care of that." I said. "To the point where my mom told me to stop decorating!"

"It looks great Kim," Milton said.

"Yeah, totally swag!" Jerry said.

"Hey, did you put any candy anywhere?" Eddie said looking around.

I shook my head. I then heard my phone buzzing. I took it out of my pocket and looked at the caller ID. It was Rudy. Why would he be calling? It's a Saturday night; the man needs to find a girlfriend! The guys ended up staring at my little phone screen.

"Well, pick it up, Kimmy!" Marcus said a little too quickly. I saw the guys snicker.

"My name is Kim!" I argued. I hated when people called me Kimmy, but since he was new I didn't pound him. Instead, I picked up the phone.

"Hi Rudy," I said through the phone. "You'll never guess who we—"

"Kim I need you and Jack here at my house, pronto!" Rudy said in panic.

"What's wrong?" I asked a little more concerned.

"Just quickly please? I'll explain when you both get here!" He said.

"Okay, we'll be on our way," I said. He didn't even say bye, he just simply hung up. Something must have been really wrong.

"What happened? Did he need your advice on girl's minds?" Jerry joked. He ended up laughing at his own joke. "See, I'm so funny!"

"Jack, we need to get to Rudy's place right now," I said looking at him. I had no time to accuse Jerry of how lame that joke was.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"He didn't say, he just hung up," I said.

"Okay, let's go," He said running out of the dojo. Yep, that was Jack, the teen with the Hero Complex.

"You guys go ahead; we're just going to show Marcus around." Eddie said.

"Alrighty-o." Marcus said. I saw a small smile curve to his face, like he was excited. Probably that he's doing Karate here. Well, who wouldn't? I ran out following Jack, who didn't even wait for me.

"JACK!" I called out in annoyance.

**(Jack's POV) **

"Gee, thanks for running off without me, Jack!" Kim scolded sarcastically. Okay, I will admit she was cute but I could_ really _go with_out _the sarcasm. But, don't jump to conclusions, that doesn't mean I like Kim! And besides, I like being friends with her, anyway. I don't like her, right?

Ugh, I want to get out of my self -conflict. "Sorry, I was worried about Rudy!" I honestly said. We were at the entrance of Rudy's neighborhood and saw police cars parked in front of a house. "What happened there?"

Kim squinted her eyes and looked closely at the scene. There were police cars everywhere and many neighbors were standing outside while the lights were flashing in all directions. Wait… there's a cat there too and a weeping short man… both our eyes widened. "That's RUDY!" Kim and I said at the time. We ran to Rudy's house and we saw him wailing.

"Rudy, what happened?" Kim asked.

"My… someone… Tip-Tip… broke…. GONE!" Rudy said blowing his nose into a handkerchief. Kim and I exchanged looks. This must have been really bad, I could tell that Kim was kind of scared for him, but managed to have her confident, tough-girl look on the outside.

"What's gone?" I asked, calming him down.

A police officer came towards us. "Pretty much everything," She told us. That just made Rudy cry even more.

"Thanks cop, that's going to make him feel so much better," Kim said sarcastically.

"What do you mean by everything?" I asked.

"Apparently, someone broke into his house, stole his awards and certificates and even some important documents that contains his qualification of a third degree black belt. Tsk, tsk, tsk." She shook her head. How could that be? Who would be stupid enough to do something like that?

"That's awful!" Kim said. "I'm so sorry Rudy."

"Wait, did the thief take any money?" I asked.

"Well, he is a thief what do you think genius?" The officer snapped. Who knew even police officers had attitude? "About 300 dollars was stolen, and poor Tip-Tip was abused." We gasped and looked at Tip-Tip, who couldn't walk. Kim went closely, and saw that he had a broken paw.

"Aw!" Kim said. "We should take him to a vet."

"Not now!" Rudy said. "That monster even stole my Halloween decorations! I paid big cash for that. And I will not let my neighbor win again for best decorated house!"

"Rudy!" I screamed. "That's not the most important matter right now!" Yeah, he doesn't seem to take matters well, and realize that his third degree black belt certificate was stolen. _Denial. _

"He's right Mister," The officer said. "We have two weeks. If we are unable to find your documents or certificates in those two weeks, I'm afraid that would make you keeping your dojo illegal, therefore we having to shut it down."

"What?" We all screamed. No, no, no, they can't shut it down! Anger was raging inside me. I want to beat the fudge out of that thief.

"Yep," The officer said simply. Again… who knew some officers could be so… stupid?

"This is awful," Rudy said. "No… no… NO!" He screamed looking up in the air. We all exchanged looks of stupidity.

"Are you trying for a dramatic moment?" Kim asked him. "Because it's not working."

"Rudy, we'll find the thief, don't worry." I said. "Kim and I won't let that happen to you. You worked so hard for that, it can't disappear forever."

"Yeah, I have my suspicions," Kim said holding the cat. "It could be anyone who we had troubles with before,"

"Thanks, guys." Rudy said. "Yes… yes… YES!" He said looking up in the air once again.

"Again Rudy…. Not working!" Kim said.

_**Part Two- No one's POV**_

Milton, Jerry, Eddie and Marcus all sat down at Falafel Phil's eating… well… Falafel.

"So, Marcus what do you like to do besides Karate?" Milton asked.

"I like Physics, and American History. It's so fascinating how those presidents wear those ridiculous wigs!" Marcus said.

"Yeah, I know right dude?" Jerry said. "So, you like your falafel?"

"I've never tried falafel before. It's a little too oily don't you think, mates?" He said. He squeezed his Falafel and oil poured out of it.

"Eh, it's all good." Eddie said munching on his snack. Before Marcus could say anything, they saw Jack and Kim walk in with worried looks on their faces.

"Guys, we have a huge problem!" Jack said.

"Why do you have a kitty cat in your hands?" Marcus said. Jerry and Eddie busted out laughing.

"Dude, he said kitty cats! It sounds hilarious!" Jerry said laughing.

"This is no time for that!" Kim screamed.

"What happened?" Milton asked.

"Someone broke into Rudy's house and stole everything!" Jack said. "He stole 300 bucks, his Halloween decorations—"

"I'm guessing Kim decorated his house too?" Eddie said.

"This is serious!" Kim said. Eddie still looked at her. "Maybe…" She said looking down at Tip-Tip.

"Why do you have Tip-Tip with you?" Milton said.

"I was getting to that!" Jack said in hurry.

Jack said in hurry. "The thief even broke Tip Tip's Paw! And, worst of all, he stole Rudy's documents on qualification of being a 3rd degree black belt and all of his trophies and certificates! If we don't find any one of them in the next two weeks… the dojo's going to close down."

Everyone was serious now, even Jerry. Marcus looked down in disappointment. "That's horrid," Marcus said. "Well, I best be going, mummy's calling but I will help you lot find your sensei's papers don't you worry a single bit!"

"Really, you'd do that?" Milton asked.

"But of course! It's no fair for people to get fired for what they didn't do!"

"Wow, that's so nice of you," Jack said.

"Thanks bro!" Jerry said.

"Well… you are welcome. But I must be going now, otherwise mother will be cross. Cheerio!" He said and ran out. Everyone smiled about how nice their new friend was.

All except Kim. She found him strangely familiar for some reason… and it wasn't in the good way. But she didn't want to jump to conclusions. After all, he was from England. She forced a smile and thought positively.

"Okay guys, our detective work starts Monday!" Jack said.

"Why not tomorrow?" Eddie asked.

"Look all of our enemies are from school. I have a feeling one of them has to do with it, because most of them just wanted to close our dojo. If we can spread out and spy on them, we'll be able to find out who did it, because apparently… school is the main place for clues."

"Got it!" They all said.

"So what do you guys say…? Wasabi?"

"WASABI!"

**A/N- That concludes chapter one of Halloween Thief! Thanks so much for reading, and please review! Chapter Two's here too! Hope you guys thought it was mysterious and good! :D Later! **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and ConfusingStateOfMind**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- Hi guys! ConfusingStateOfMind and I are back with the second chapter of Halloween Thief! So how do you guys like it so far? I hope the answer is that you love it, because things are going to get even more AWESOME! Make sure you tell your friends because this is definitely going to be a Fanfic you'll love to read over and over! Oh, and for those of you who want the Epilogue from my previous fanfic Kickin' It to JAPAN, I don't know if I'm going to do it, because I can't think of anything to do for the epilogue! But, you guys can still indeed enjoy this! **

_**Part 1: Kim's POV**_

Sundays. The only day of the week where I can finally just relax in peace. I was at the dojo, putting the finishing touches on the decorations. As I stuck on the last plastic spider web, I saw Jack ride in with his skateboard. I hate seeing those wheels of death.

I miss Dylan.

"Hey Kim," he said, unbuckling his helmet and snapping me out of my horrible flash back. "Still working on those Halloween decorations?"

"Yeah, I'm actually done," I replied, observing my work happily. "What do you think?

"Wow, it's really good, Kim! You should join the drama committee; you could make a great decorator!" Jack joked.

"Yeah, that'll happen," I said sarcastically. "So what are you doing here?"

"Actually, I came to see you," he said. When he said those words, I got butterflies in my stomach. He came to see me, personally. I forced myself to stop admiring Jack and his adorable smile.

_Kim, you're starting to like Jack .I think you should join a mental hospital._

"Why'd you want to see me?" I asked.

"Well, since we're going to be going undercover and all tomorrow, trying to find out the culprit who took Rudy's stuff, I figured that you learn how to…" He did this cool flip-trick maneuver with his skateboard and smiled. "Skateboard."

I froze for a second. No, no, no. You can ask me to break dance, you can ask me to put on a bikini, but you _cannot_ ask me to skateboard. "Uh…" I began.

Jack noticed the fear in my eyes.

"Kim, are you okay?" he asked, concern on his eyes.

"Um…I can't," I said simply, quickly grabbing my bag and walking away. I couldn't even look at the skateboard; it brought back bad memories. I could hear Jack's footsteps as he followed me.

"Kim, wait!" Jack called. I stopped and turned to face him. "Was it something I said? Is it really true that Kimberly Crawford has a weakness?" He was smiling. I could tell he was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn't working.

"Not funny Jack. No, it's just…" I began. I thought about telling him, but then he would feel sorry for me, and I didn't need his pity. I tried again, "A…I was…a long time ago…" I just couldn't say it.

"What?" Jack asked again, taking a few steps closer. I began to feel queasy and my knees were shaking slightly. I attributed it to thinking about Dylan, but I knew most of it was because of my close proximity to Jack.

"I just can't, okay?" I said, my words coming out harsher than I meant.

"You can tell me," Jack said softly, not a foot away.

I gulped and tried to blink back the oncoming tears. "My brother…"

Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise and stepped back, much to my relief.

"Wait, what? You have a brother?" Jack said in disbelief.

"I…_had_ a brother." I said, looking down. I didn't want him seeing me cry. So much for a peaceful Sunday.

Jack immediately pulled me into his arms. "I'm sorry," he replied.

I tried to bite back a sob, but it came out as a muffled, "Anngh…" Jack's arms tightened around my waist and my arms rested gently on his shoulders. This isn't how I envisioned it- thinking about Dylan, in front of the dojo in broad daylight…

I forced myself to pull away and faced him. I knew this day was going to come, but never expected it to happen now, when a lot of other terrible things were already happening. But he was the only person I was going to tell.

"He was older than me- thirteen years old. His name was Dylan and he… died in a car crash. He was riding his skateboard, when…" I didn't need to finish. Jack's eyes flashed with understanding. "I was four years old, and I didn't even know what the meaning of death was. He treated me like a princess, and always spent time with me. I even remember playing dress up with him." I laughed, bitterly. I missed my brother so much.

"Kim… I'm sorry…I didn't know," he mumbled.

"It's okay," I said. I saw his face fall, which made me feel even worse than I already did. First Dylan, and now I had to deal with Jack? Should I skateboard? I mean, after Dylan… No. No, I'm Kim Crawford and I am _not_ going to let fear control my life. Maybe, if he was with me I'd feel better. "But… if you promise to stay with me the entire time then…I'll skateboard." I wondered if I would regret those words- but no, because Jack was here. I felt comforted by the thought.

Jack's face brightened and I smiled. "But you tell no one about this, or I'll hurt you," I threatened. I tried my usual fierceness, but with Jack so close and silent tears running down my face, it wasn't as effective as usual.

"Typical Kim," he joked, shaking his head. "Don't worry, I promise not to tell anyone."

"Then, I guess we got some skateboarding to do!" I said, letting a smile spread across my face. He smiled in return and we went out of the strip mall so I could learn something new.

_**(Jack's POV)**_

We walked to the park where there was a nice, long sidewalk, perfect to help Kim. I glanced at Kim's face, which was still a little pink from when she was crying, which frankly was the first time I have ever seen her cry. _Pretty girls do cry sometimes, Jack_. Ugh, not you again! I thought, trying to get rid of the second voice that popped into my head. _Come on, Jack you know you love her, stop denying it_. Kim is just a friend, okay? _You love her, Jack… Jack…_

"Jack? JACK?" I heard Kim scream. I stumbled out of my mental argument and looked at Kim who was waving her hands furiously in front of my face. "Are we going to do this or not?"

"Sorry!" I said. "So are you ready?"

"Yeah sort of-ish," Kim said reluctantly. "I don't know."

I laughed. "I promise not to let you fall." I set the skateboard on the ground and held out a hand. I could tell that Kim was a little skeptical at first because she kept darting her eyes between the skateboard and me.

"Okay," Kim sighed. She gently grasped my hand and gingerly stepped on the skateboard. I handed her a helmet and she clasped it on.

"Wow, that was a great lesson, gotta go, thanks, bye!" Kim said quickly and jumped off the skateboard, flipping it over. She tried running, but it was pointless, I easily caught her around the waist.

She screamed. Again… typical Kim. I've never seen her so afraid of anything. I felt bad for her, because of her brother. I know the pain.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Kim said interrupting me from my emotional flashback.

"Then stop running away! Don't you trust me? I thought you said you didn't want fear controlling your life!"

"Well… I… see…." Kim stuttered.

"Exactly!" I pointed. She rolled her eyes. "Just trust me, okay? I promise you, I won't let anything happen to you. Besides this is a park, there won't be any cars."

Kim went back to stand on the skateboard, and I stood next to her, ready for the lesson. This was going to be fun. Well… hopefully.

"Okay, the key is to stay totally relaxed." I said. "It's just like riding a scooter, but with no handle bars. Just use your right leg to drag you. It maybe a little hard when it comes to the balancing part, but I know you'll get it. You always do." I smiled.

She smiled back. "Thanks-you have to help me on my first try, though."

"I will, I will." I said. I wrapped an arm around her for balance. "Okay, go."

She lifted her leg and dragged it across the sidewalk. I had to run to keep my light grip around her waist and we both were laughing at how fun this was.

"You want me to let go now?" I asked as I was running.

"Yep, let me go!" She smiled confidently. I let go, and she was gracefully soaring down the sidewalk, like a pro. Kim laughed and the wind blew against her, flipping her golden locks over her shoulder. It looked like she was living the dream, which eventually made me smile at how happy she was.

It was when she hit something when things turned… funnier. She hit a bump on the sidewalk, and flew out of the skateboard, landing flat on her back.

"Kim!" I shouted. I ran over to her to see if she was okay, but when I approached her, she wasn't crying or complaining. In fact, she wasn't even upset. She was laughing.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine," she giggled. "You should've seen the look on your face!"

Instead of being mad at her for scaring me, I laughed along with her. "So you're saying the fall was fake?"

"No, I really did fall from the skateboard, but if I hadn't faked it, I wouldn't have fallen that far!" She just kept laughing.

She looked beautiful with her honey-blonde hair flowing over her shoulders, and her cute smile, and…. Ugh, Jack just shut up!

"You're a devious girl," I teased, helping her up.

"And you are an overprotective freak," she said, smiling.

"Touché," I replied. She laughed. Kim retrieved the skateboard and rode it all the way back to the dojo.

"Today was fun," she replied.

"Yeah, for you!" I teased. "Meanwhile, I thought you passed out when flying to the floor like that."

"I knew you would freak out!" she said. We continued laughing, and she pushed me lightly. We found ourselves staring into each other's eyes for a long time, our faces just inches apart. Kim was the first one to break the awkward silence.

"Well, um I have to go my mom's probably waiting for me," she said.

"Oh okay," I said, stepping away, feeling oddly empty. She picked up her bag, and started to head out.

"Thanks for teaching me how to skateboard, by the way. I guess it really helped me get over Dylan. I still miss him though."

"Hey, he's always going to be with you, no matter where he is. I would know, Kim." Wait… I shouldn't have said that.

"What are you talking about?" Kim asked me, confused. Before I could answer, I heard Kim's phone buzz. She rummaged through her bag and pulled it out, the screen lit up.

She frowned at the Caller ID. "Some random number," Kim said. "But it's not a telemarketer."

"Put it on speaker," I said.

She pressed a button and tentatively said, "Hello?"

"Hello," a deep, sinister voice answered. "I was watching you the entire day, Kim. Just because you know how to ride a skateboard now, doesn't mean you can run away from me. I'll always be there, don't you worry. Pretty soon, your little dump will be gone. Just remember Kim: I'm always watching you."

Before Kim could even speak, the line went dead. We both looked at each other in confusion and fear, Kim's eyes widened with the deer-in-the-headlights look. I glanced around in the dark, but I couldn't see anything- aside from the shadows, and the darkness.

"Jack… what was that?" she asked me, her voice unusually high pitched.

"I… don't… know," I admitted. "I really don't." I looked at her, and I could see the utter fear in Kim's eyes, which is something I haven't seen before, even when she was riding the skateboard. Kim didn't need to hide her emotions this time. We were both scared, inside and out.

So our Halloween story begins.

_**Part Two: Milton's POV (during the day, while Jack and Kim's part was taking place)**_

Gee, Marcus is a creepy dude. As we were watching him do karate in the dojo, we pretty much ALL concluded that. So this was how the whole day went with Marcus, and without Jack and Kim:

"'Ello mates!" Marcus said as he walked in the dojo. He had a wide smile on his face, which pretty much brightened up our emotions. He was also wearing a button-down shirt with a sweater vest and khaki pants with old-fashioned shoes, when it was blazing hot outside. But we ignored it.

"Hey Marcus!" Eddie said.

"What up my bud-ay?" Jerry said high-fiving him.

"What's up Marcus?" I asked.

"Well, as I have mentioned before, I do a little karate, and I was wondering if you lot could… judge me."

"Judge you?" I repeated.

"Yes. I want you to judge me. _Now._" Marcus said glaring at us. We all leaned back in fear.

"U-uh, o-o-Kay." Eddie said hiding behind Jerry and I.

"Alrighty-o!" Marcus flashed a smile and went to the mat. Jerry, Eddie and I sat on the bench so we could watch him.

"Shouldn't you be scoring me?" Marcus asked before he could start.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Score me. On a scale of one to ten. Seriously Milton, check your ears! And while you're at it… eat a sandwich or something! You look so thin; my grandfather might mistake you for a stick, if he ever saw you!"

"Hey!" I defended. "I am not thin!"

"Dude, you kind of are," Jerry said smiling at me.

"Whatever, let's just score him," I said angrily. I hated it when people call me thin. People have to stop being so judgmental! I got a pen and paper to "score" Marcus, who frankly wasn't acting like the nice guy he was last night.

"Alright, this move is called 'I Found Me Crumpet!'" Marcus said smiling. Jerry, Eddie and I exchanged looks. What the heck does that mean?

"Okay," I simply said. The boy threw a huge round-kick threw two punches and curled up in the floor, into the shape of a… crescent?

"Dude, is he having a seizure?" Jerry asked standing up.

"I'm fine, you ninny!" Marcus said getting up. "So what's your score?"

Eddie flipped the paper to show Marcus.

"You drew a picture of Tootsie Pop?" Marcus said in disappointment. Again, Jerry burst out laughing.

"You're killing me with the accent, man!" He said. I rolled my eyes.

"Let's see you're score then!" Marcus said, ignoring the "insult".

Jerry flipped his paper to show Marcus.

"Now why… would you write nine, one, one?" I asked in disbelief.

"Hey, with Marcus having a seizure, I had to take immediate action!" Jerry said. Marcus looked angry, and I just put my face in my hands. Sometimes, Jerry really is a toad.

"Milton, do tell me that you gave me a score I can well work with!" Marcus said with his British accent. I scribbled a "5" and flipped the paper to show him. He was looking at his phone as it had buzzed, and then at me. He didn't look happy.

"How dare you give me a five?" Marcus said, appalled.

"Yes Milton, do tell," Eddie pushed.

"Well, it was good and all, but—"

"I worked so hard on that move!"

"Yes but—"

"And you, of all people give me a low grade!"

"Will you just—"

"AAAH!" He started going bizarre, and immediately ran out of the dojo. We started to run after him, but he was already long gone. We stood at the entrance of the dojo, but luckily we couldn't hear his high-pitched girly scream.

"I told you he was having a seizure!" Jerry said.

"JERRY!" Eddie and I screamed.

_**(No one's POV) **_

The guys went to Falafel Phil's for a snack, but they were all thinking about their weird encounter with Marcus.

"Dude, I'm telling you, we need to tell Phil to put less oil in these things!" Eddie said.

"Will you forget about that?" Milton asked impatiently. "We're here to talk about Marcus. He was acting especially weird today."

"Maybe he's a ghost!" Jerry said.

"Yep, that's it Jerry! I'm just going run and tell the werewolf that happens to be lurking outside!" Milton said sarcastically.

"Think about it!" Jerry said. "He wears old-fashioned clothing, has really pale skin, and he has a British accent! I'm telling you, total ghost!"

"So just like you thought Kelsey was a _total_ mermaid?" Eddie asked.

"Hey, that was one time! And I learned that she wasn't the hard way!" Jerry said.

"What did you learn the hard way?" The guys heard in a British voice. They turned and saw… Marcus smiling at them.

"How… when… who… what?" Eddie stumbled.

"What?" Marcus asked, confused. He took his phone out of his pocket as it had buzzed again, and looked at it. His eyes widened.

"Hey, look over there!" Marcus shouted, pointing in the opposite direction. The gullible boys looked at the direction where Marcus pointed.

"Wait, I don't see…" Jerry turned around to tell Marcus, but he was gone. "Anything." He finished.

"We don't see anything!" Eddie shouted. "Where's Marcus?"

_Boo. _

The guys all looked at eachother, and their eyes widened. "GHOST! AAAHH!" They ran out of the Falafel Phil's emotionally scarred for life.

So their Halloween story begins.

**A/N- The end… for chapter two: P Haha, don't worry Chapter Three will be published as soon as possible! Hope you all loved it! Please review and Thanks so much for reading! **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and ConfusingStateOfMind :D **

**P.S- This is random, but who saw ABDUCTION? **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- Hi guys! ConfusingStateOfMind and I are once again back with the THIRD chapter of **_**Halloween Thief!**_** Hope you guys love it, and we're really happy with the surprisingly quick reaction to our stories. I just posted this story late night and then the next morning, I see that there are already 5 reviews and more than 9 story subscriptions, so we're both so happy about that, so thank you guys we really appreciate it! Okay, I have said too much. On to the story!**

_**Kim's POV **_

Missing Black Belt: Day 1.

Before school, Jack and I went to the police department to meet the officers if there was any luck with Rudy's papers. I was a little worried about Rudy…

I can't imagine his life without karate. But at least we have a good two weeks, so that's plenty of time to find the douchebag who stole all of Rudy's things. And with Jack and me on the case, we'll surely be able to find it… hopefully.

As we entered in the police station, we saw that absent-minded police officer, from the other day, sitting in her desk, chatting on the phone. Jack and I walked over to her desk, and she looked us with slightly worried eyes. We saw Rudy come in as well with Tip-Tip in his hands. He gave us a relieved smile as he walked in.

"Okay… thank you, Mister … you have a good day…. Yep, I'll tell them… bye, bye now." She hung up and saw all three of us standing in front of her desk.

"Oh wonderful, you're all here, so I don't need to call you," she said lazily, snapping her gum in our face.

"Well, I guess we all had the same idea. Have you found the thug yet? "Rudy asked hopefully.

"Nope. Not a single clue," the officer said. "In fact, I got some bad news for y'all.

"Just what we need for today, more bad news." Jack mumbled angrily.

"I was on the phone with a lawyer, and apparently for your case we're going to have to cut-short the time limit for keeping your dojo."

"What? Why?" I asked quickly, in shock.

"Unfortunately, some of the documents that have been stolen are far too important to wait. This little thief of yours even stole your lease agreement for the space for the dojo. So, you only have until Saturday, October 31st. If we or you haven't found the thief, then we're forced to shut down your dojo.

It's out of my hands. Sorry folks."

We all gave each other worried looks. Rudy started bawling loudly again, tears streaming down his face. I tried comforting him, but I too was extremely frustrated and upset.

I noticed Jack's face hardened with a resolve. "Then Kim and I are just going to have to work a little harder to find the arrogant maniac," he said determinedly.

"Jack, we only have six days there's no chance we—"

"Yes there is," He interrupted. "Kim, if it's anything that Rudy or this dojo taught us, it's to never give up. I'm not going to let some self-absorbent, cocky, jerky freak come in and just make us hand our dojo over to him. It means much more to us than that, right?"

I could instantly understand what Jack was trying to say, and he was right.

"Exactly," I agreed. I turned to Rudy who was looking at us with respect, but worry. "Rudy, Jack and I aren't going to give up. We're going to find him, for all of us."

His eyes flickered with warmth. "Thanks, guys. It means a lot. Well, I'm going to go take Tip-Tip to the vet again. Since this morning, Tip-Tip couldn't even walk. The poor kitty keeps speaking to me on how it hurts."

I took it as a joke. "I get it Rudy, he's hurt. But you should really take him to the vet."

"No, I mean he was really talking to me. He told me that some guy came in last night and awoke him from his dream on becoming a cat surgeon."

Jack and I backed away from Rudy, dumb stricken. "Okay, we need to find that thief fast before Rudy completely loses it!" Jack said frantically.

"What do you think we should do, Tip-Tip?" Rudy asked his cat, holding out his ears.

"I think he just did!" I said and we both ran from the police department to school. We have to find who took Rudy's stuff and fast. Because, for one thing…

We only have five more days.  
><em><span><strong>(Jack's POV) <strong>_

As we ran into the school building, the hallways were deserted of any people. Our loud footsteps echoed down the hall. Great, just great...first we find out that we only have six days to find the man, and now we're going to get detention for being late? We don't even have a pass! I could feel the tension rising inside of me… I looked at Kim's face, and she seemed worried just to be lurking around in the hallway. Looks like someone takes school seriously.

"Jack, we need to get to class!" Kim said frantically, nudging me towards our first period. Before I could enter the classroom, I spotted… Arthur? He was starting to walk in the school building. What's he doing here?

"Wait, stop!" I hissed at Kim. "I see Arthur!"

"What?" Kim whispered, shocked. "What is he doing here?"

I pointed to a little nook underneath the stairs, well concealed. "Let's just hide, and see what he's doing." Kim and I ducked under the staircase, to see why our little "friend" was in Seaford High. He raised a fancy black cell phone to his ear and started to talk animatedly.

"Hey, it's me…" He said. "Yeah, no one's in the hallway…. How am I supposed to know what class he's in….? You don't need to shout, man….Okay, okay I'll find him; he's probably in the class with those weirdos….Yeah, our plan is going full proof, everything is working the way planned…with—"

I shifted to get a better view, but I accidentally jabbed Kim in the side with my elbow, forcing her out of our little hiding space.

Shoot.

Kim's eyebrows shot up and she struggled to cram back in our hiding space.

Arthur suddenly stopped talking. I shot Kim a look, which was pretty unreasonable. Kim returned it with an icy glare that was only softened by her worry.

"I'm going have to call you back… Yes, with the sugar smiley-faced cookies, please." He snapped his phone shut, and I could see him looking around suspiciously.

We scrambled out of the space and started to make a break for it, tearing down the hallway. Suddenly, Kim was jerked back sharply, Arthur's hands tightly around her waist.

She shrieked in disgust. "LET ME GO!" I immediately flew to her side and grabbed Arthur's shoulder.

"Let…her…go…" I said my voice deadly cold.

Arthur sneered at me. "If you say so." He pushed Kim out of his arms, causing her to careen to the left and slam into the railing of the stairway.

"OW!" she screamed, clutching her arm.

"What are you up to, Arthur?" I asked, my eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"What are you talking about? That was my dad!" he defended. "I'm transferring schools here, duh!" I could tell he was lying; just by the way he was using an overly casual voice.

Suddenly, he rushed forward, and I instinctively turned to my left, thinking he was going to hurt Kim. Something crashed into my side and I slammed into the wall. It took me a moment to register the fact that Arthur had hit ME.

I quickly got up and got a grip around Arthur's neck, pressing him against the wall. "Just admit it," I growled.

Kim tugged on my arm, trying to get me to let go. "Jack, stop!"

I ignored her. First, he hurts my girl (wait…what? Did I just say that? Scratch that!) And then he gives me an obviously fake, lame lie, and now he pushed ME?

"Yes, Mr. Anderson, stop right now." But it wasn't Kim's, or even Arthur's voice. I turned around, dropping my grip to see a formally dressed man, who was glaring at me through his glasses.

Principal Squires. Uh-oh.

"I… uh…" I stammered.

"My office, Jack," he said sternly. My stomach churned. Could this day get any worse? "You too, Miss Crawford." Kim shot me one of her famous "death glares."

Guess it just did. I could see Arthur, who was rubbing his neck, while keeping a smug look on his pudgy, little face. I wanted to punch him so hard. I forced myself to walk away, wondering why I was letting him go. I was sure he was planning something.

We reached his office and I slumped onto one of the hard, wooden chairs.

Someone engraved the words "Bad Kid" on the back. Kim sat down next to me, anxiously twisting her fingers.

"So, would you like to explain why you were clutching that kid's throat?" Principal Squires asked, taking a seat behind the desk. He whipped off his glasses and gave me a calculating stare, looking right into my eyes.

I can't just tell him that I thought he was a suspect of who stole our sensei's things. He's just going to expel me anyway, and possibly schedule me for an appointment with a physiatrist. The only option was get suspended from school.

"No sir," I mumbled.

"Anything, you would like to share Miss Crawford?" The principal's sharp eyes flew to Kim.

Kim looked at me. I knew she was going to kill me after we leave the building for good. She's probably going to say what I said. Prepare for deportation.

"Sir, it wasn't Jack's fault," Kim blurted. My eyebrows shot up. Was she actually defending me? Kim was talking faster than ever. "Arthur that kid you saw earlier… he was bullying me. Jack was only defending me. Please, you can't expel him. You should expel Arthur; because he pushed me into this railing- see the marks on my arms? And then he pushed Jack too, which got him really mad. Jack shouldn't get expelled he—"

"That's enough, Miss Crawford." Squires said, in a loud tone. Her rambling immediately stopped. I couldn't believe Kim was actually defending me on this. I mean, I would've done the same, but I didn't know she would. She so has a crush on me.

"Is this true, Mr. Anderson?" The principal said, looking at me now.

"Yes, it's all true, Mr. Squires." I said quickly, hoping my tone would convey the honesty. "But it was wrong of me to clutch his throat. I apologize."

"So are you going to expel him?" Kim asked worriedly.

"Well…"

"Please? I don't even think that kid even goes to our freaking school!" Kim retorted.

Principal Squires raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. Jack, you will not be expelled." I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked at Kim and gave her a thankful smile, and surprisingly she smiled back. I thought she would shoot me one of her "You're so dead" face.

"However," The teacher continued. I groaned.

"Please don't say however," I whined.

"You will have detention all this week." He said sternly. My eyes widened. How will we ever have time to catch the thief, if we're just stuck in a classroom?

"Principal Squires, with all due respect, can I please do detention next week?" I pleaded. He said nothing. Instead, he shot me a horrifying look.

"I'll take that as a no," I mumbled.

"I guess I'll go with Jack too," Kim said.

"Alright, see you this evening. Go to class," he said. Kim and I both got up, and started walking out. When we closed the office door, I could feel Kim yank my ears.

"OW!" I yelled.

"You idiot!" She snapped. "Thanks to your 'heroic deeds' we're going to be wasting our time in freaking detention for the next five days!"

"Hey, it's your fault!" I retorted.

Her eyes widened. "Mine? How is it my fault we have detention? I wasn't the one clutching Arthur's throat!"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have to clutch Arthur's throat, if he hadn't hurt you!

That's how much I care, okay?" I could feel my cheeks burning after I said that. I _cared _about _Kim_.

Her eyes softened. "Jack, I know you care, and I'm sorry I yelled at you for that. But, how are we going to find him?"

"Simple," I said grabbing my skateboard. "We… skateboard out of here,"

_**Part 2- Jerry's POV **_

Here's the only thing I have to say when I'm in first period…. What the….?

As I was sitting with my buddies Milton and Eddie, along with our new, but freaky ghostly buddy Marcus, I realized… where's Jack and Kim? I briefly wondered if the two ran off together to raise Alpacas. Haha.

I tapped Milton on the shoulder. "Yo Milton, have seen Jack and/or Kim?"

"Nope, now shut up, I am trying to take notes here!" Milton said, furiously taking down notes on a sheet of paper. Geek.

I tapped Eddie who was sitting behind me "Eddie, you seen Jack and/or Kim?"

"Nada," He said. I went over and tapped Marcus. Before I could even ask my different question, he already answered.

"I haven't the faintest idea of where Jack and Kim are. Sorry, mate." He said quickly. He was looking paler than usual today. I wonder why... is he really a ghost. I'm scared man….

"BRING!" The school bell ran shrilly.

"Alright kids, go to your free period." I heard the teacher- which class was I in again?

We all gathered our books, and I for one literally ran out of the classroom, because of Mrs. What's-Her-Name constantly rambling on. All we do is take notes-which everyone hates, although I have my doubts about Milton. Milton, Eddie and Marcus were right behind me, looking around the hallway.

"Okay, where are those lovebirds?" Milton asked me.

"Dude, I've been asking you that during class the whole time!" I complained. And Milton calls me the toad in the group.

"Beats me," Marcus blurted, just a little too quickly. We all backed away from him, still scarred from the ghost encounter before. "I'm going to go look for them all. Be back in a jiffy! Well, perhaps a longer jiffy. Bye-bye now!" Marcus ran away.

"I'm sure he's probably going on a date with his GHOST FRIEND!" Eddie said.

"Yes, thank you!" I agreed. Finally, someone who doesn't roll their eyes at me whenever I say something.

"There is something messed up in that British kid's head," Milton said suspiciously. "Something… bad."

"Eh… whatever," I said. "Maybe that whole ghost thing could have been a coincidence. You never know, man."

"Are you kidding?" Eddie said. "I was scared for life! Ugh, I'm going to get a candy bar. All this ghost talk is making me hungry." With that, Eddie ran to the cafeteria. I was looking around, and finally spotted Jack and Kim talking beside a locker. They seemed worried about something.

"Hey Jack!" I called. Jack and Kim stopped to see me and Milton running over.

"Where were you during first period?" Milton asked. "You missed our lesson on the Louisiana Purchase! It was so interesting!"

"Wait, we were learning about the Louisiana Purchase? I thought we were learning about grocery stores and how to buy things at the cash register!" I asked. "What's the Louisiana Purchase?"

Everybody rolled their eyes and face-palmed. "What did I do?" I asked innocently.

"We got detention," Kim said sadly.

I was shocked by this. "You two? Getting detention? That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!" I was cracking up. But apparently I was the only one laughing. _Embarrassing_.

"Wait, so you were serious?" I asked.

"Yes we were serious!" Jack snapped.

"But why would you two, of all people, get detention?" Milton asked. "You two are just like me, of course, but my record has never been tarnished. I'm a detention-free student, never even-"

"Milton!" Kim whisper-hissed. "Shut up!" As an after note, she added, "Please!"

"We saw….Arthur," Jack whispered. Milton and I gasped.

"Not him!" I cried.

"What did he do?" Milton asked.

"Well, we hid underneath the stairs-"Kim began, in a hushed tone. We were the only ones left in the hallway, fortunately.

"Next to the janitor's room? Isn't that convenient?" I replied. "I remember hiding in there from a teacher once. Good times."

"Jerry!" Milton cried. "Quiet!" Kim rolled her eyes.

"He was talking on the phone with someone. Then, a certain SOMEONE," Kim turned to Jack and gave him a pointed glare, "decided to shove me out."

"I'm sorry!" Jack exclaimed.

"Anyway, Arthur caught us, and grabbed me. Ugh, his hands were all over me." Kim shuddered, and I noticed Jack's eyes seemed to narrow. "Then Jack went all psycho-protective and almost beat Arthur up…"

"Kim, you're making me sound like the bad guy!" Jack said angrily. "You know he was the one that caused those marks on Kim's arms!" Jack gestured towards her; there was this huge red scrape near the shoulder.

"Kim, Jack was trying to be a good friend." Milton said.

"I know he was, but if he hadn't clutched Arthur's throat, we wouldn't be doing detention today. We were even about to get EXPELLED!" Kim said. "Luckily I stepped in, and defended him."

"Yes Kim, you are amazing," Jack said sarcastically, glaring at her. She rolled her eyes and stepped away from him. I almost felt bad for the two. They're supposed to in love, not fighting! I had to do something. "So what are you guys going to do?"

"Well, that was actually the good part!" Jack said. "I have a plan. But it's a little risky."

"Dude, I was born for risk!" I said, a perfect opportunity to help them. "I'm doing detention today, as usual. I'll bail you out. And me too! Then you both will make up, fall in love and in your wedding, you'll personally be thanking me, Jerry Ricardo Julio Vincenzo Henry Marti Martinez!" I said with great pride.

"Jerry, if you ever continue with our never-going-to happen-love story again, Mr. Long Name's going to be having a death certificate as well!" Kim said flashing on a fake smile. Yep, Kim's in love.

"Well I'm in Jerry!" Milton said. "Let's help Jack and Kim bail out!"

"Yeah but don't you think they're going to notice that you're not really supposed to get detention?" Kim asked.

"I don't see how they can yell at me for being in detention voluntarily."

Milton said. Yep, good point. "Besides, I'll volunteer to be a student aid. Ooh! That'll really impress the teachers, and then…"

"So what's your plan?" Jack asked, interrupting Milton's star-student rambling.

I asked the team to huddle up, to discuss the amazing plan that Jack and I combined. And this time, it was a smart one.

**A/N- Okay, that's all for Chapter 3! Don't worry, Chapter 4's coming! Anyway, please review and tell me what you like about it. Love to hear from you guys! And if you're wondering where our other story is, on the way don't worry about it. Once it's here, I will surely let you all know. It's going to be on ConfusingStateOfMind's account, so it's not on mine, just to clear that up. Thank you all for reading our story, and hope you loved it! **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei (ConfusingStateOfMind)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N- HEY ALL LEO HOWARD AND/OR KICKIN IT LOVERS! Alyss Mei and I are back with the fourth chapter of Halloween Thief, and I am really happy about the nice comments! We all appreciate those who reviewed, subscribed or even just read the story! It means a lot to the both of us. I hope you all love the story so far, because it's about to get better! Heehee, anyway, enjoy the chapter! :D **

**And Happy Halloween!**

_**Part 1: Kim's POV **_

_Tick Tock, Tick Tock._  
>I wish that stupid clock could actually do something useful for once- other than telling time and making annoying noises. Speeding up time would be helpful.<br>Yep; here I am, sitting in my history classroom, which happened to be the detention room. Jerry, Eddie, Milton and Jack were all sitting around me, so that was a plus. The "detention" classroom's walls were covered in lame posters of important figures from the past, and "Test Tomorrow" was written in huge letters across the white board. Ugh, I positively despised the smell of Expo Markers.  
>Anyway, detention didn't start for a while, so we were busy making sure our plan was in order. That's right…<br>We were escaping from detention.  
>Of course it was a risk, but we were all willing to take it. Clearly, we had no choice. We have to go back to Rudy's house and see if we can find any clues. I wasn't going to rest until we found the thief. I can't. I won't.<br>Jack gripped me on the shoulder from behind. I could feel chills seeping through my thin sweater. But why? I've never felt this way before. My stomach was doing leaps, my palms grew clammy, and yet my mind was at ease, like it was on vacation at the beach. What is this feeling?

_OK, Kim, just listen to what Jack's saying._

"Kim…you ready?"  
>I sighed and stood to face him. "Yeah. Let's do this."<p>

"And one more thing…I'm sorry," he said. "This was my fault."  
>I looked deeper into his brown eyes, and they were brimming with guilt and disappointment, with a hint of anxiousness. I almost felt culpable for yelling at him, when he was just trying to be a good friend. He IS a good friend. I don't think I've ever met someone that cared about me so much…admittedly more than my parents, who are always gone on business trips. They even were in New York on my birthday, and they didn't even bother to call. They never call, they never care….<br>_Kim! Jack just told you something very sincerely, and it requires an unfathomable response!_  
>"No, Jack. I'm sorry," I apologized, mentally thanking my conscience. "I shouldn't have blamed you; I should have thanked you. You were just defending me, but I was too quick to yell. So, I'm sorry."<br>"Hey, I guess we're both sorry then," he said. "Mostly you though," he coughed, stifling a laugh.  
>I smiled and shoved him playfully. "Very funny," I said. Suddenly, I felt my stomach do a cartwheel, as I touched him. I do not like Jack… I do not like Jack, I do not like JACK!<br>"Kim?" Jack said waving a hand in front of my face.  
>"Sorry," I said, snapping myself out of my train of thought.<br>"Alright guys!" Jerry said, standing tall on the teacher's desk. We craned our heads to see him. "Now, this AWESOME plan took some brain, but a whole lot of-"  
>"'Ello Mates!" I turned around to see Marcus entering the room. He had that wide grin stretching across his face, as his ruffled blond hair swept unevenly across his forehead. His shirt was neatly pressed and tucked into a pair of khakis. He was even wearing that sweater vest of his. Those dimples…that look in his eyes…that awful, tacky vest…I've seen him before! I know I have…I just can't put my finger on it.<br>"Marcus, what are you doing in detention?" I asked, confused. "Oh, well, Jerry told me that you lot were breaking out of detention and-"  
>"I never told you that?" Jerry said, jumping down from the desk. "I don't remember telling you! And I would never tell ghos-I mean, I wouldn't tell you! I would remember that, man!"<br>"Well, you did," Marcus snapped, with a glare in Jerry's direction. "Anyway, I figured I could help."  
>"Wow, thanks!" Milton piped up.<br>"My pleasure. I want to help you catch that…perpetrator!" Marcus said joyfully. "Now I got loads of papers that I can throw, while Jerry fakes his injury, so that you can escape when my papers are flying, it'll be like mysterious confetti!" I smiled, and not just because of his British accent. Who knew British people could be so nice?  
>"That's genius!" Milton said. "What an extremely ingenious plan, which happens to be genius, but it's ingenious in a genius way—"<br>"Milton! We get it!" Eddie said.  
>"Alright. Milton, Eddie and Marcus, go outside in the hall and hide under the stairs!" Jerry said. "Once we give you the text, you guys come in, and do your fake bleeding, and crying and the flying of papers! Got it? Oh, and make sure your phones are on VIBRATE!" Wow. I've never seen Jerry talk so… smart! See, this plan is benefiting ALL of us!<br>Milton, Eddie, and Marcus ran out of the room, leaving Jack, Jerry and me alone in the classroom.  
>"Okay, the window's open for us to jump out of," Jack said taking over this time. "Jerry you have your three speed bike below, right?"<br>"Jack… for the last time it's my sister's!" Jerry exclaimed exasperatedly.  
>Jack rolled his eyes. "I got my skateboard to hop on, and Kim you have yours?"<br>"Yep," I said. I was so ready.  
>"We got the decoys of us?" Jack said.<br>Jerry pointed to the dummies of Jack, Jerry and I, and they looked so realistic!  
>"Whoa!" Jack and I said in unison. "How did you get that?"<br>"Oh, I paid Tyler Sanders to do it. That kid's total swag at art! He's been making wax figures of everybody in the ninth grade!"  
>Now that is impressive. I smiled. "Our plan is full proof!"<br>"Alright guys, let's sit down before Ms. Hartman comes in. Just sit in the seats you sit in for History."  
>We all sat in our history seats, which meant Jack was sitting next to me and Jerry was kind of behind. We saw Ms. Hartman come in, with a sharp eyes darting towards each and every one of us. Her white hair was tied up into a bun, and her face was etched with wrinkles.<br>"See, she won't even tell the difference between the decoys and us!" Jack hissed.  
>"Jack, she's not blind!" I snapped, still whispering.<br>"Ah, Miss Crawford… where are you?" Ms. Hartman said looking around, squinting her eyes in all directions.  
>"I'm right here!" I said raising my hand. She was right in front of me, and couldn't even see me.<br>"Ah, there you are. I'm sorry I forgot my glasses today. I was too busy making sure none of you was dropping out," She saw me and shot me a look with her piercing eyes. I sank lower in my chair. "Such a surprise to see you in detention, for the very first time! I knew it was going to happen with you eventually. As for you Mr. Anderson." Jack sank lower in his chair as well looking down in "shame." We all knew he was texting Jerry to get the plan into full action.  
>"So, Mr. Martinez, what did you do this time?" Ms. Hartman said looking at Jerry. "Glue the desks to the ceiling? Deliberately plant banana peels in the teacher's lounge?"<br>"Nice to see you too, Maureen," Jerry said smiling. Ms. Hartman shot him a glare and Jerry slowly swept the smile from his face, and looked down…. to text Milton.  
>"Okay, you have two hours. Now, rules; you mustn't talk, tap, listen to your iPod, or even—"<br>"AAHH!"  
>Milton and Eddie came rushing in and started screaming and running around in circles. I could tell confusion and panic hitting Ms. Hartman like a lightning. Milton and Eddie poured fake blood from their noses, and in their arms. Marcus hadn't shown up. We couldn't help but laughing a bit at their act. They were good!<br>"Help me! Help me!" Milton screamed.  
>"What happened to you two?" Ms. Hartman looking blindly.<br>"We both hit our noses, on the pole, and then someone was cutting us! IT BURNS!" Eddie screamed. Fake tears were streaming, and Ms. Hartman bought it, considering she didn't have her glasses to know that they were throwing smiles here and there.  
>"Oh no, you poor things! Well go to the nurse!"<br>"WOMEN, COME WITH ME!" Milton was grabbing her and pulling her to the door. And just when things got "good", they got "better", as we were standing up slowly going to the window.  
>Marcus came in and threw papers everywhere.<br>"AH! ALL MY PAPERS! THEY'RE ALL F's!" Marcus screamed, as he flew around, still clutching a few papers.  
>"Young man, I demand you to clean up those papers, while I take these two to the nurse! Jack, Kim, and Jerry, you're staying! I'm not going to be in this room, so I expect you to all behave!" Ms. Hartman, dumb stricken, pushed Milton and Eddie out the door, while they gave me the thumbs up. We quickly placed our figures in our seats and started heading out the door.<br>"Wait!" Jack said. "What if she asks us something?"  
>"Got that taken care of!" Jerry said. "I attached audio speakers on the wax figure, so when she tells us to leave, we have answers!"<br>"Jerry you are amazing!" I said.  
>"Yeah, I can be smart!" Jerry said proudly. "Don't doubt me!"<br>I smirked. Quickly, we all dove through the window.  
>"Marcus you want to come?" I asked.<br>"No, it's perfectly fine; I'll just clean this up!" Marcus said. I nodded and flew out of the window, landing on my skateboard perfectly, thanks to Milton's Math and Physics skills.  
>"YES! We are out of detention! Great work guys! WOO!" Jerry gave us hugs, and we smiled along. Although this was a risk, it felt good to escape detention, because we were doing it for a good reason.<br>To get our dojo and our Sensei back.

_**Jack's POV**_  
>Missing Black Belt: Still Day One.<br>We hopped on our skateboards after our epic escape, and started riding to Rudy's house, to check on Rudy. God, I'm so scared. If that man goes psycho, he's going to have to start from level one to get his third degree black belt back.  
>"Hey guys!" Jerry stopped and so did we. "My sister called and she wants her bike back! I'm going to have to give a rain check for going to Rudy's house."<br>"What?" Kim said. "What if you make another breakthrough, and help us find that thief!"  
>"Breakthroughs don't happen a lot with me," Jerry sighed. "Sorry guys."<br>"It's okay, Jerry. At least you helped us bail out," I said sympathetically.  
>"Yeah, well if I don't go soon, my sister's going to flip out, see you later you love birds!" Jerry smiled and started riding home… in the other direction.<br>My hands were ready to strangle him. Did he really have to say that? We're not "love birds"! Kim is JUST A FRIEND! Nothing more… at least I don't want it to be anything more… well it would be nice…  
><em>Of course it would be nice, Jack! Just tell her how you feel!<em>  
>I don't want to tell her how I feel, because there are no feelings, so shut up! Gosh, that little voice is so annoying!<br>_So you're telling me that you're not afraid to snap a bone when you need to, but you are afraid to tell Kim three simple words… I like you!  
><em>Well…  
>"Jack, hello?" Kim was waving a hand at my face.<br>"Oh, sorry," I said facing her.  
>"Well, at least I can count on you… I know you wouldn't ditch like Jerry did…" Kim said.<br>"Was that actually a compliment?" I gasped overly.  
>"Don't make me take it back!" she snapped, pulling her hair into a ponytail with elastic. "C'mon, let's just go to Rudy's house. We'll definitely be able to find clues there." And with that, we both skateboarded to Rudy's neighborhood once more. I looked at Kim and realized how good she was at the skateboard.<br>"I have to say Kim…" I began. "You're doing really well on the skateboard, and I only gave you one lesson."  
>"Guess I get my skateboarding talents from my brother," She laughed weakly. Empathy washed over me as she reminded me of her brother… it reminds me of my granddad. I haven't even told her the news, yet. Since she told me about her brother, I guess it was fair to tell her about what happened to my granddad just a few months ago.<br>But now wasn't the time. Let's just focus on finding Rudy's things.  
>"We're here," Kim sighed as we approached Rudy's shabby-looking home. Broken shards of glass still hung off the window, and the house looked pretty messy- things strewn across the floor.<br>We set our skateboards on the driveway and pressed the doorbell. It was getting dark outside, and shades of purple and pink colored across the sky. And it was getting really cold. Weird… it's only October in San Jose, and yet the temperature's dropping to the 50's for the very first time. Luckily, I was wearing a sweater, so I wasn't as cold, but I looked over at Kim, who was wearing only a thin shirt and capris. She looked freezing, slightly shivering and crossing her arms.  
>Before I could say something, Rudy already opened the door, with a weak smile on his face. "Hey guys, come on in!" We both went inside and looked around in pity. Poor Rudy.<br>"Well, I made some hot cocoa, you guys want any?"  
>"Sounds good, it's freezing outside," Kim said. "Anyway, we just came to see if we could find any clues on who stole the papers and awards and the money. Have you been cleaning up?"<br>"No, not really. The police said to leave everything as is, so if they ever stop by, they'll check the place. So I haven't done anything. But I hate seeing my house so messed up!" He stomped like a little boy.  
>"Rudy, as soon as we find the man, we'll help you clean up," I said trying to cheer him up.<br>"Thanks guys. You both have been helping me a lot, and it means a lot." Rudy said. "But find him!" He went into the kitchen, and we both looked around and shifted through papers to see if we could find anything.  
>"Geez, this guy sure seemed desperate." Kim said. "He even looked through Rudy's birth certificate!"<p>

"Really?" I said looking at her. "God, this detective work is so freaking hard! I wish the thief would make our lives easier and shout 'I'm the thief'!"

"Jack... really?" Kim looked at me.

"I'm sorry, but it's just that... I... we... we're just kids. No one knows who took the certificates and awards... it's just irratating."

"Yeah, I guess I agree," Kim said. "Stupid thief...why can't he just make our lives easier and go and raise Alpacas?"  
>I smirked, and kept digging out papers, when I saw a little gray box. I dug it out, and saw that it looked something like… a walkie talkie. It had a speaker, and an antenna, but there was no button to press to talk to anyone.<br>"Kim! Look at this!" I said. She came closer to me, and saw what I was holding.  
>"Is it a walkie talkie?" Kim asked holding it.<br>"I'm not so sure. If it was a walkie talkie, then there would be some sort of button to switch to communicate with the other person.  
>"Wait…" Kim was thinking hard. "I've seen these! On the Spy Channel, they have this walkie-talkie like things, that whatever we say…" She stopped and faced me with worried eyes.<br>"What?" I said, asking her indirectly to continue.  
>"The other person…" She began. "Can hear and watch us with the hidden camera."<br>Rudy came in with two Hot Chocolates in his hands. "Okay, I added extra marshmallows, because I know how someone likes…" But his voice drifted off when he saw our horrified expressions.  
>"What happened?" Rudy said. All we did was hand him the device.<br>"What's this?" Rudy said flipping the stalker-thing in all directions.  
>"Rudy, hand this over to the police tomorrow," I said. "And keep it inside a pillow."<br>"What are you guys talking-"  
>"Just do it, please! Kim and I need to go…" I said checking my phone for the time. It was quarter to eight. "It's getting late; our parents are going to start wondering where we are."<br>"But what about the Hot Chocolate?" Rudy said looking sadly at the two full cups of warm milk.  
>"We'll live, but thanks anyways." Kim said, patting Rudy on the shoulder. "Right now, we really have to go. Time flies."<br>"Okay, well thanks for your help." Rudy said, still baffled from looking at the spy cam.  
>"Just do what we told you," I said. "See you tomorrow." I opened the door, and Kim and I started to head out. Rudy waved in confusion, and closed the door behind him. I heard Kim's teeth chatter due to the cold.<br>"J-J-Jack," She stuttered. "It's c-c-c-cold. I d-don't t-think I can r-ride my s-s-skateboard."  
>"You don't need to," I said, taking off my sweater to give her.<br>"Oh, you don't need to—"  
>"But I want to," I said cutting her off. "It's fine." I took my jacket off, and wrapped it around her shoulders, and she smiled gratefully. I do love that smile of hers.<br>"Thanks," She said. "Note to self… don't be an idiot, and bring a freaking sweater!"  
>I laughed. "You're not an idiot, Kim."<br>"Well now you're cold…." She said looking up at me.  
>"No, I'm a man of steel!" I joked.<br>She smirked. "Yeah, when are you getting out of what I call a nightmare?"  
>I laughed. "Haha, very funny." I said carrying my skateboard. She nudged me on my shoulder, and we both ended up laughing. Pretty soon, after a while of walking, we made it home.<br>"Well, thanks for walking me home," Kim said. "I hope my mom doesn't…" But her voice trailed off when she heard her phone buzz. It was a text message. Her smile slowly disappeared, into a sad frown.  
>"What happened?" I asked looking at the disappointment in her eyes.<br>She looked at me with sad eyes as if that one little text message just changed her life.  
>"It's nothing," She said. She quickly handed me the jacket and started walking towards the entrance of her house, with her skateboard clutched in her cold hands. "Thanks for letting me use your sweater. Bye Jack." She took keys out of her pocket and started unlocking the door.<br>"Wait, why don't you just ring the doorbell, it—"  
>"Bye!" She said, slamming the door shut. In a confusing state of mind, I walked home. What was that text all about? Why didn't Kim just ring the doorbell, I mean her parents were home…<br>Right?

_**Part 2- Milton's POV**_  
>Helping Jack, Kim and Jerry escape detention was the most exhilarating experience of my LIFE! I was an awesome actor, like the best one in the history of the world! I came in all bloody, and with fake tears running down my cheeks! I mean, Eddie was okay, but I was better! This just proves that I, Milton David Krupnick, can be THE BAD BOY! And not Little Boy Blue… I hate that costume so much.<br>Anyway, so Ms. Hartman was frantically taking us to the nurse, not even knowing that Jack, Kim and Jerry were probably out of the building by now. But Eddie and I needed to think of an excuse so she doesn't really take us to the nurse, because then the nurse will find out about the fake blood. I turned to Eddie and gave him the signal, to do his thing.  
>"Hey, Ms. Hartman?" Eddie said looking up to her.<br>"What?" She replied in a raspy voice.  
>"Why are we going to your house?" Eddie said, almost ready to start cracking up.<br>"What? I'm taking you to the nurse… right?" Ms. Hartman said, puzzled.  
>"No, you said something about your cats at home, being injured…."<br>"WHAT? I did?" I couldn't believe she was actually buying. That's one old teacher!  
>"Yes!" I jumped in.<br>"Oh, I knew Tootsie's hairballs were going to put him in serious trouble! She said backing away from us. We almost gagged at the disgusting thought. "Thank you Eddie, for telling me about my cat. But I could've sworn I was taking you both to the nurse's office!"  
>Eddie and I quickly wiped off the fake blood. "You're starting to lose it Ms. Hartman!" Eddie said.<br>"Well, you tell Jack, Kim and… Jerry," She nearly puked when she said Jerry's name. "That they're off the hook for this week's detention, and will make it up for next week. I need to go look after my 20 cats! Don't worry, Tootsie! MOTHER'S COMING!" She ran out of the school building, and me and Eddie high fived eachother.  
>"Nice work, Eddie!" I said.<br>"Thank you, thank you," Eddie said taking unnecessary bows. "I'm the best actor there is!"  
>"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm the best there is!" I whined. We both ended up arguing about who's the better actor, when I heard a ghostly British voice talking.<br>"Wait Eddie," I began.  
>"No, you wait BUB!" Eddie argued. "I am the best actor, I was so awesome from hiding the fact that Truman was—"<br>"EDDIE!" I hissed. "I get it; you're the best actor that ever lived! Look…" I pointed to Marcus who was talking with…  
>"Arthur and Truman?" Eddie whispered.<br>He was absolutely right. Truman was standing with Marcus and Arthur, with a worried look on his face. Marcus and Arthur, however, seemed almost happy about something. Eddie and I tiptoed towards the end of the hallway, so Truman, Marcus, and Arthur won't see us.  
>"Why are those two here?" Eddie asked me in a hushed tone.<br>"I don't know! I'm not psychic!" I snapped. "Let's just listen. Maybe this'll prove if Marcus is really a ghost or not. Then I can rub it in Jerry's face, and tell him the scientists ARE awesome, because they've scientifically proved that there are no such things as ghosts!"  
>"But wait, what does Arthur and Truman has to do with this?" Eddie asked, still seeming to be confused.<br>"Shut up, and listen!" I said. Eddie finally stopped talking, so we could overhear their conversation. We were pretty far away, so it was kind of hard to hear, but luckily, I got ears like a HAWK, baby!  
>"Guys, I think we're going a little too far with this." Truman said with a little worry.<br>"No, we're not! Shut up, Truman, if you think we're taking this 'too far' then we'd be happy to exclude you from our society!" I heard Marcus say. Eddie and I exchanged looks in confusion.  
>"Yeah, Truman," Arthur said. "We need to do this. Those kids annoy me. They even overheard me, when I was talking to you-know-who! So, I almost started to abuse her, when the hero of all heroes jumps in for his damsel-in-distress!"<br>"Really? Oh, you should see their friends! Total nut job!" Marcus said, laughing. Who were they talking about? Eddie looked just as confused as me.  
>"Anyway, you want to be a part of this team? Then you better get your little act together, and keep the you-know-what safe! Plan B is already underway… no one must find out my true identity, and I knew you might not keep it so safe, so it was time… to frame!" Marcus said.<br>Truman and Arthur gasped. "What?" Truman said.  
>"Seriously, British dude?" We heard Arthur said.<br>"Yes, indeed!" Marcus said. "No one must know my identity! It's too much for the human mind… heehee."  
>"Dude, you're identity isn't—"Truman said.<br>"Yes it is! No one must know! And if for some reason Plan B doesn't work… then Plan C has to go…"  
>Arthur and Truman gasped, but this time in more shock. I had no idea what they were talking about, but after he was talking about his identity, I think I know what he means.<br>"Ghost," I whispered to Eddie.

**A/N- That's all for Chapter Two! Hope you all like it! Chapter 5 is coming up, so wait for that! Also, I think one of the comments wanted to know what Marcus looked like. I pictured Marcus to look like Eustace from Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader… haha. Yeah, so hopefully that'll give you a better idea of what Marcus looks like. So, about the story; what do you guys think Marcus was talking about? And can you believe Truman and Arthur are back? And what was the text Kim received? Why didn't she just ring the doorbell? And do you guys think Marcus is a ghost? All questions will be answered, later on in the Fanfic! Thanks for reading! REVIEW! :D **

**ALSO: CHECK OUT OUR OTHER FANFIC LOCKED IN… ON CONFUSINGSTATEOFMIND'S PAGE! HOPE Y'ALL LIKE IT! **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N- Hi everyone! Alyss Mei and I are here with the FIFTH chapter of Halloween Thief! Hope you all love it, things are about to get pretty… see we both can't say any adjective because it'll give it away! Haha, anyway, before we start, I needed to say this to you guys: Who watched Boo Gi Night, the new Kickin It Halloween Episode? Okay, for those who haven't spoiler alert! So, you know how Jack overcame his fear, because Milton was caught by the Black Dragons, and Jack overcame it because it was his friend… that should've been Kim, instead of Milton! Just saying…. **

**Haha, anyway, enjoy the fifth chapter! **

**And again, I do not own Kickin' It; I only own Marcus and the police officer. **

_**Part 1: Kim's POV**_

Missing Black Belt: Day Two.

I couldn't get any sleep at all last night… I was too buried in my tears and sadness, after that text message last night. Yes, I was crying… I know it's surprising to me too. But after the text my mom and dad sent me… any daughter would've been depressed. But I can't tell anyone about it. Not even Jack. I know I can trust him on anything, but he'd just think I'm a loser.

Let's just say, I'm all alone at home now.

Anyway, I grabbed my new skateboard and started riding to Rudy's house. It was a little early… you know, just about…SIX THIRTY! I'm pretty sure that Rudy wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. But first I had to get Jack, who's probably fast asleep at his house. I arrived at Jack's massive house, and see his figure emerging from the front door! He walked into his garage to get his skateboard.

"Hey, Kim!" Jack called out to me. I ran up the driveway.

"Weird… I was actually thinking about running you over with my skateboard, so you'd wake up!" I teased.

"Ha ha ha, Kim. So funny," he said sarcastically. "Well, why are you up so early?"

"I think it's for the same reason," I said. "Go to Rudy's house, to find more clues."

"Huh… bossy and psychic… amazing!" Wow, he was just full of sarcasm, wasn't he?

"Shut up," I snapped the harshness in my voice contrasted by the wide smile on my face. "So, you ready to go?" I yawned.

"Yeah, but I don't think you are… your hair's a mess!" Jack said pointing to my hair. Shoot, I forgot to comb it… ever since that text, I didn't even eat dinner.

"Well, sorry for not getting all dolled up to come see you," I said, yawning again, blinking longer than usual.

"You sure you okay? Was it about that text message? What was it?" Ugh, Jack was always so nosy, and acting all concerned. It was sweet and all, but I could get quite annoying!

"Nothing!" I said a little too quickly, in a high pitched tone.

"Kim… you really expect me to believe that when you're eyes are bloodshot, you're hair's a mess, and your nose is as red as Rudolph's nose?"

"Okay," I said reluctantly, giving in. "You got me."

"Well what happened?" Jack said, stepping closer to me.

I let out a big sigh, taking a little step backwards. It was just a little close for me. "The text was…" I began, and gulped hardly. I didn't want to tell him, but he got me. "It was from my mom."

"So what?"

"So, she and my dad went on a business trip to London, and didn't even tell me." I blurted. My mind suddenly relaxed as I said it, and it felt as if a huge weight was released from my shoulders. It almost felt good to tell someone what's been bugging my mind.

"Wait, so during school they just left? Without notice?" Jack was shocked and confused. He couldn't imagine any parent doing that.

"Exactly," I said looking down. "They're not going to be back for two weeks. And Friday's—"

"Your birthday," Jack finished. I looked up. How did he even remember that? Did I even tell him?

"You remembered?" I asked.

"Of course I remember," Jack said. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, if my own parents don't even remember that their little girl is turning fourteen, then my expectations for my friends are pretty low."

Jack chuckled. "So, did you even bring up the point that your birthday was this Friday?"

"What's the point?" I asked sadly. "Even if they knew, they wouldn't come back. Apparently, it's a really huge convention, and if they don't attend, they could lose their job. Story of my life."

"Well, they'll probably call you on your birthday. I guarantee that." Jack said soothingly.

I didn't want to discuss this anymore. It just makes me want to cry and trust me, I do NOT feel like doing that in front of Jack. "Let's just go to Rudy's place." Before Jack could even answer, I set my skateboard on the ground and rode away. He quickly followed. When we reached Rudy's house, to our dismay, there was a police car parked on the driveway.

Great.

"What happened now?" Jack asked in annoyance.

"Guess we're going to have to find out," I said, sighing. We both rode our skateboards to Rudy's driveway, and didn't need to ring the doorbell, because

it was already open. The same pile of papers were scattered on the ground. It was a reminder that we only have a couple more days until our time is up.

"Rudy?" Jack called.

"In here!" We heard a familiar voice come from the kitchen. Jack and I walked into the kitchen, and saw the lazy police officer with Rudy. "Oh, it's you," I scowled. I really didn't like her and her attitude.

"Kim!" Rudy hissed. "Be nice, Officer Collins is going to help us!"

"How?" Jack asked.

"Well, after some detective work with all the finger prints, it looked to be a teenager."

"How did you figure that out?" I asked amazed.

"Well, considering that finger print was smaller than the average adult's fingerprint, we're going to go with a teen."

"So, you're saying someone at school did this?" Jack asked.

"Yep! Now, uh, Rudy…you mind getting me some hot chocolate?" She turned to Rudy.

"Of course… _Wanda_," He said smiling. Officer Collins giggled like an idiot. Jack and I almost gagged at their "chemistry".

"Wait what about the spy cam thing?" I asked.

"Oh that…" Officer Collins said looking at it. "We weren't able to acquire the signal, and trace it back, because suddenly the line went dead, as if there was no receiver. Yeah weird, I know. Ah well," She said dumping it in the trash.

"So how exactly are you going to help us?" Jack said still getting over that awkward moment.

"Oh, simple!" The police officer said. "I'm just going to be, you know, following you to your classes. That way I can find some suspicious clues.

Consider me your body guard or something." She snapped her gum and clunked her feet on the counter. We rolled our eyes.

"We can take care of ourselves, thank you," I said.

"Whatever. So, when do you kids start school?"

Jack looked at his cellphone and his eyes widened. "Uh… now! School starts in five minutes!"

"Aw... really? That means I got to get up now!" She said lazily. "And I'm going to miss my hot chocolate!"

"Come on!" I yelled impatiently. Rolling her eyes, Officer Collins got up and started heading to her car.

"Rudy, we'll see you later!" I called. "We got to get to school!"

Rudy came from the kitchen and looked at us, with relieved smiles. "Thanks guys. It means so much that you're all helping me. Now go, go, GO!" He said shoving us out the door. Jack and I ran to our skateboards.

"Wait!" Jack said before I could hop on.

"What?"

"Your hair!" He said pointing to it. I groaned in frustration.

"I'll do it in school; my lucky brush is in my locker!" I said. Jack rolled his eyes, and we both skateboarded to school. I know, my hair was a mess, but I had to use my lucky brush, because due to recent events….

I'm going to need that luck__

_**(Jack's POV) **_

Missing Black Belt: Day Two, but with a lazy cop this time.

Kim and I rushed to our lockers, with Officer Collins following us. We saw Milton, Jerry, and Eddie discussing something. They looked at us, and we gave a half-hearted smile to them, with all the hustle and bustle from our lockers. Kim was combing her hair while I was just admiring myself in my locker mirror… _looking good_!

"Jack! BRO!" I heard Jerry say. Him and the rest ran over to me and Kim. Luckily, we finished getting our stuff before the bell would ring.

"What's up guys?" I asked.

"Tell 'em, Milton and/or Eddie…" Jerry said.

"Okay, so it was scary…" Milton began.

"SO scary!" Eddie said.

"It was weird…" Milton continued.

"SO weird!"

"It was confusing!"

"SO—"

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Kim said loudly, so they would stop their rambling. "Milton you start!"

"Okay, so we were walking down the hallway right, so proud of ourselves because we were awesome actors!" Milton began.

"Well, I was a better actor! I got Ms. Hartman convinced that her cats were injured. So, thanks to me you guys are off the hook for this week, and have to make up detention next week!"

"Wow, thanks guys!" I said high-fiving both of them. Kim high-fived them too.

"No, but that's not the entire point," Milton said. "You'll never believe who we saw!"

"We saw Truman, Arthur and Marcus talking together!" Eddie said.

Kim and I exchanged looks of worry. Truman's back too? Great, just great. First Arthur, and now Truman!

"Gee, Eddie thanks for ruining my moment! I was going to make it sound more suspensful!" Milton said.

"Forget about that!" Kim said. "What did they say?"

"Marcus was mad at Truman for something…" Milton said. "And… he was talking about not wanting his identity to be exposed."

"Dude, that freaky British dude is a GHOST!" Jerry said.

"What freaky British dude?" I turned around and saw Marcus looking at us in confusion, with Officer Collins rushing towards us, after talking to some Janitor. "You guys aren't talking about me, are you?"

"Uh…" I began. "No, of course not! You're our buddy!" I said patting his back awkardly.

"Hands off, please," Marcus said, quickly grabbing my hand and rudely putting it down.

"Dude, we have to be honest…" Jerry said facing Marcus. "Milton and Eddie think you're a ghost!" Jerry said pointing at the two. Milton and Eddie's jaws dropped.

"You were the one that started it!" Milton hissed.

"You lot think I'm a ghost?" Marcus said. "Ha.. ha… that's really funny! Ha… ha…" It was almost like he was laughing half-heartedly… but it seemed like on porpuse. Milton, Eddie and Jerry's eyes widened, thinking that Marcus is pulling off a white lie, when really… I'm thinking that he's lying about the lie that is an obvious lie, but covering it up with another lie…

_Jack, do you ever make any sense? _

"Nice group of friends you got there," Officer Collins whispered to Kim and I. We were about to argue, but we realized it was very true.

"I know, right?" Kim and I said at the same time. Suddenly the bell rang.

"Oh, that's the bell! Better get on to American History! We have that big test today!" Marcus said, running off with Milton, Jerry and Eddie. Although it seemed like Milton was going to beat Marcus on the race to the history classroom.

My eyes widened. A test? I didn't even study! With trying to find the thief, I totally forgot. Dang it. I looked at Kim, and she looked just as shocked as me.

"Jack, I'm going to fail this test!" Kim said. "I didn't even study! And even yesterday I saw the board and it said "test tomorrow," but I was concentrating on how bad the Expo Marker smelled!"

"Okay, calm down now," Officer Collins said. "Just go to class,"

With worry, Kim and I went to the history classroom, and took our seats, which were next to eachother. Officer Collins came in and leaned against the wall, eyeballing every kid in the classroom. Geez, cop _you_ should calm down!

Our history teacher, Ms. Francis looked at the police officer in confusion. "Um… can I help you officer?"

"Oh, don't mind me, just do your thing!" Officer Collins said, smacking on her gum.

Kim tapped me on the elbow. "Jack, I'm scared!" She whispered. "I'm so going to fail, and that means… I'll be getting my first F!"

"Kim, I'm scared too," I said. "We're just going to have to fail for Rudy."

"That doesn't help Jack!" Kim hissed.

"Mr. Anderson and Miss Crawford!" Ms. Francis yelled to us. Great, busted. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"

"No, Ms. Francis," We both said glumly. I was tapping underneath my desk in worry. I'm so going to fail.

"Alright class," Ms. Francis said collecting a bunch of papers, or the tests. "This test is worth fifty percent of your final grade, so I hope you all studied!" That just made my tap underneath my desk louder. I always do that, when I'm nervous.

"Jack!" Ms. Francis yelled, her sharp eyes facing mine. "May I please ask you to—"

"Wait," The police officer said looking closely at my desk, her eyes squinting. "There's something underneath that desk," I was confused.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Officer—"

"Silence, Kim!" Officer yelled. "Jack… please, step aside." The whole class stood up, and I got away from my seat. Easily, the cop turned the whole desk over causing a loud "THUD!" and "CRASH!" erupt throughout the classroom. And I saw… papers taped underneath my desk.

"What do you have here, Jack?" Officer Collins said. First she untaped a small piece of paper, and handed it to Ms. Francis in confusion.

"Jack…. How dare you attach a cheat sheets of the test?" Ms. Francis said angrily. The whole class gasped, eyeballing me. I couldn't believe what just happened. I never taped a cheat sheet, ever! How could this have happened? I looked at Kim, and she had a confused but worried look on her face. Luckily, she believed that I would never cheat.

"No…. I would never—"

"Oh, that's not all!" Officer Collins said. Larger sheets of paper were attached to it. All I saw was a lot of words, but couldn't make out what it was. Officer Collins eyes darted from left to right rapidly, and sadly they widened. "This looks like the lease agreement for the dojo!" The whole class gasped. My eyes darted towards the guys and Marcus (who looked like he knew it along that it was me, when really it wasn't), then Kim, then the rest of the class, then the teacher, and back to Officer Collins. I looked back at Kim, and her expression was flushed with worry. I can't even tell if she still believes me. I was frozen in place. My emotions were mixed so much at the moment, I couldn't tell if I was in panic, because of the lease agreement, or happy because of the fact that we found it… or even angry at the person who planted those underneath my desk.

"No! I don't even know how that…. It's impossible… I'd never do such a thing!" I defended.

"Jack Anderson," Officer Collins said, bringing out handcuffs. "I'm afraid you're under arrest for theft and vandalism,"

**A/N- OOOOH! A HUGE CLIFFHANGER! I'm not even doing part two for this chapter due to the amount of suspense the cliffy contains so, a real twist of events, huh? If you can't handle this much of a twist, then good luck trying to bear with the next huge turn of events, because that will definitely blow your mind away. I mean, JACK ACTUALLY ARRESTED? We all know that he wasn't the one who stole the papers... so stay tuned for the next chapters… please review… **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N- HEY GUYS! Welcome to the sixth chapter of Halloween Thief… where questions could be revealed… or will still make you wait for more… brought to you by Taylor and Alyss Mei! Haha, liked our intro? Yeah, well I'm pretty sure you were all kind of waiting for this chapter! So it could be a little unpredictable! Haha, anyway, hope you guys like it! PLEASE REVIEW, we would love some feedback, so we can make our stories even better in the future! THANKS!**

_**IMPORTANT**_**: Okay, since I left you guys off with no part two, I'm going to start with part 1 being in Jerry's point of view and Part Two being Kim's POV. This is just the all the kid's reaction to the fact that Jack got arrested. Even Marcus's reaction. I don't really do Eddie's POV because he's like a flat character in the show. They don't really show any traits of him on the show, other than fact that he likes eating. So I can only do it with Jerry and Milton, because of their multiple traits shown in the show. But you'll see how Eddie feels about this. **

**ENJOY THE CHAPTER! :D **

_**Part 1: Jerry's POV **_

As soon as Officer what's-Her-face said that Jack was actually under arrest, my heart stopped for a few seconds. Well, not literally, since I'm pretty sure I would be dead. I think that's what Milton said…Anyway, you get the point. Jerry Martinez was in SHOCK, man!

It couldn't be Jack…How could it be Jack… He would never… I believe in my bro, he would never do such a thing! I mean, he's been working with Kim to catch that thief, he was so determined to find him. There's no way he could've done that! He's too good a friend! I had to step in… I mean I can picture myself going to juvenile detention (or, admittedly, even jail), because of my swag-bad-boy attitude…but not Jack! And what's going to happen to Jack and Kim's thing? If Jack goes to jail for the rest of his life, they're never going to get married, or worse… ADMIT THEIR FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER! I walked up to Jack with the Milton, Eddie and Marcus following me.

"Yo Lady-Cop!" I said, extending my hand so the officer couldn't clasp the handcuffs. Jack was still frozen in place, as well as Kim. I ushered her up so she could help.

"What did you call me?" She glared directly into my eyes, doing her best attempt at a stare-down. Nope, it didn't scare me one little bit.

"You can't take Jack to prison," I announced.

"YEAH!" Milton and Eddie chanted, backing me up.

"He's too good of a friend of ours to steal that!"

"YEAH!"

"Even Milton and Eddie wouldn't do that, because they're too loser-ish."

"YE- Wait what?" Milton and Eddie screamed, glaring at me. Ha, ha, I had to put that in there.

Kim scowled and shoved me aside to stare at the cop. Her eyes flickered to Jack.

"Officer Collins, please don't take Jack to jail! He never did that! He was with me the whole time! He would never even think about stealing something, especially something that he and we all love… and that's Karate. He'd never let us down like that…. He'd never let me down." Jack and Kim started staring in each other's eyes…see? I told you they are in LOVE!

The Officer's eyes softened. AW! I thought to myself. What a happy ending!

"Well…" The officer said looking at Jack's panicked eyes.

"Wait!" Marcus shouted, rising from his seat. "I have to say, I object!"

"What are you doing?" I hissed at Marcus. He shot me an evil smile, and I knew this was some sort of ghostly revenge.

"See, I actually got a tape recording of what Jack has to say, PROVING that he is indeed guilty for taking the papers!"

What? A tape recording? What the…?

"Marcus… I thought you were our friend." Milton said.

"Yeah, you should be on our side!" Eddie said.

"Oh, I will always be your little friend, my boy," Marcus said, slightly patronizing. "But I have to do what's right," He handed the police officer the CD and she put it in the teacher's computer.

"I-took-the-lease-agreements-and-the-certificates-and-awards. I'm-the-thief. No-one-knows." The words were scratchy and pitched unevenly...but it sounded like…

"Jack," Marcus finished for me. "I heard Jack say this, and I had to record it. He blackmailed me… he said that if I showed this to anyone he would kill me…. But I had to what's right."

I heard off-beat clapping from the back of the room. It was…

"Arthur? Truman?" Eddie said in shock.

"Excellent work!" Arthur said. "Wow, you are so brave… but I have NO idea who you are!"

"Nice job… whatever your name is!" Truman said, half-heartedly.

"I NEVER THREATENED YOU!" Jack growled, as the police officer clasped the handcuffs onto his hands. "That's a fake! I never said that! Marcus, please!"

"I'm afraid I had to do this. It's out of my hands." Marcus said, not sounding the least bit sorry.

I couldn't believe what was happening. How could Jack say that? It sounded so weird and unnatural. But…he would never! I have to still believe in him… but how did Marcus get him to say that?

"Yeah, uh I'm going to have to go with the British Boy." The Lady-Cop said.

"It's out of my hands. And that sure sounded like you. We're taking you to the police station."

"No!" Kim said. "You can't!" She looked like she was about to cry, but managed to keep her confident look. Oh Kim… you're hiding your feelings way too much.

"Kim, I'm afraid I have no choice. Unless there's evidence that proves that Jack is innocent, he's going to be in jail. C'mon Jack!" She put handcuffs on him and shoved him out of the classroom. Ms. Francis rushed behind them in panic and confusion.

"Jack!" We all called out. We looked at Marcus who looked like he wanted to scream with victory. I looked at the Milton and Eddie, who were panic stricken. I looked at Kim and she was ready to burst into tears. Arthur and Truman came up to me.

"Well, we both knew this was going to happen someday," Arthur said.

My hands clenched with anger. "Shut up, man."

"Wait… so Jack's going to jail?" Truman said his voice shaky. Was he actually apologetic?

"Yes! Why say it in a sad way? CELEBRATE!" Arthur exclaimed.

"And how are we going to celebrate?" Truman asked, smiling with force.

"Like this!" He drew his fist back and punched me- hard- in the chest. I stumbled back and heard Marcus and Truman laughing. First Jack is in jail… And now this? Oh, it's on, man!

"That is SO not cool man!" I said. "You asked for it!"

I leaped forward, but he dodged me and flipped me onto a table. Okay, maybe I should spend a little more time on karate!

"Arthur, stop!" I heard Kim say.

"Yeah! Stop!" Marcus said. "I should have been the one!"

I stood up and managed to march up to Marcus, my leg tensing up with each step. "Why would you do that? I thought you were our friend!"

"I am your friend!" Marcus said.

"Marcus!" Milton screamed. "If you were really our friend, you would've defended us and helped prove Jack is innocent!"

"Well, Jack did say those words! You think I lied?"

"Yes!" Eddie said. "Because Jack would NEVER say that!"

"Well, mark my words; he said it, not me." Marcus exclaimed.

"Oh, I'll give you a mark!" Kim said, starting forward. Milton and I barely managed to hold her back. I didn't want to get in trouble, but man, I was itching to see what she would do to that twerp.

_**Part Two: Kim's POV**_

Because of what happened to Jack, the school had to close early. For some kids, it would've been the best thing that ever happened to them, because school wasn't going to reopen for another day. But for me, I wanted to cry. I was parent-less, karate-less….

Jack-less.

I was worried. Jack doesn't deserve to be in jail. He didn't do anything! He's so loyal, and thoughtful and kind and smart and…

_WHAT'S YOUR POINT, KIM?_

My point is, that even with that fake audio tape, he shouldn't be in the police department, answering questions or whatever. I decided to go to Rudy's place, and assure him that we haven't caught that thief, yet. I trust Jack, and I know he wouldn't do such a thing. With my skateboard (which just reminds me of Jack) I hurried off to Rudy's house.

Luckily, this time there wasn't any police car. I set my skateboard on the driveway, and repeatedly punched the doorbell.

Rudy swung the door open, an annoyed scowl on his face. "Kim, there's something called patience!" He said letting me in. "I was getting ready to go the police department. They caught the thief! I wonder who it is!"

"Rudy," I said stopping him. "They didn't catch the thief."

"But the police called me… like why would they lie to me? That's crazy talk!" He scoffed, laughing.

"Rudy!" I said. "They arrested Jack!" Rudy stopped, and his eyes widened in shock.

"Come again?" He gasped, staggering back.

"The police found your lease agreement taped underneath Jack's desk! But he didn't do it!" I said quickly so Rudy wouldn't get the wrong idea.

"Wait, so… Jack stole my papers?"

"Did you not even hear what I just said?" I yelled in his face. "He didn't do it! Someone framed him; I know he would never do something as horrible as that! Please Rudy, you have to believe in Jack; he lives by the Wasabi Code… and you should too."

"Kim… I'm sorry I doubted Jack at first…" He said, looking sorry now. "He was the only reason why that dojo still stands. I know he would never do something like that. Let's just go the—"

But before Rudy could finish his sentence, he heard his phone ring. "Rudy's the man, what do you want?" He said. I rolled my eyes.

"Hi, is this Rudy Lawrence?" I heard someone say on the other end. I leaned closer to the phone, but Rudy kept pushing me off.

"Uh, yes," He said confused.

"Hi, Mr. Lawrence, this is Gale from the San Jose Police Department… I'm filling in for your chief Wanda Collins, who had an emergency to take care of… I suggest you come quickly. The thief just fainted. Goodbye now." He simply hung up the phone, and Rudy quickly put it in his pocket.

"Goodbye now? That didn't seem urgent!" Rudy said.

"Seriously? That's what you're worried about? THE TONE OF HIS VOICE?" I screamed. "Jack fainted? What?" I was panicking right now. First Jack's in the slammer, and now he's unconscious? This is so awful! What's going to happen? A bubbling tension rose inside of me…I had never felt so worried about someone so much before in my life. Wait… did I just say I care about Jack? In the other way?

"Here, call the guys and tell them to meet us at the police department. We have to go, and fast!" He said.

"But it's another guy filling in for Officer Collins!" I said. "They won't even let us look at Jack!"

"We'll just have to try. Call Jack's mom, too. She's going to want to hear this." I quickly punched in the numbers on my phone, dialing in Milton's number first, as we both walked into Rudy's car to drive to the police station.

"Milton!" I said, relieved to hear his voice as he picked up. "Tell Jerry and

Eddie to meet me and Rudy at the police station…. It's me Kim! How did you not know it was….okay no time to explain just tell them to come…and you too! Okay, okay later," I said hanging up. I turned to Rudy.

"How did he not know it was me on the phone?" I said.

"Well, your voice does sound like a—"

"DUDE!" I said, giving him a warning not to say what my voice sounded like at the moment.

"Let's go!" He said, gesturing me to get in the car, over casually. I rolled my eyes, and sat in the car. I dialed in Jack's Mom's number… I don't think this call would make her happy.

"Hello?" I heard a lady speak through the phone.

"Um, is this Mrs. Anderson?" I asked in a high pitched tone.

"Yes, who is this?" She said a little confused.

"Hi, this is Kim Crawford, I'm a friend of Jack," I said.

I could tell her mood changed instantly. "Oh, Kim! Hi, so nice to talk to you. Jack's told me so much about you. He seriously wouldn't stop talking about you." She laughed. I laughed weakly along with her… but I was a little happy on the inside… Jack talks about me? Wow…. That's so…

_Yeah, yeah meanwhile your boyfriend is in JAIL so I suggest you cut to the chase, Kim. _

Ugh, oh yeah. "Mrs. Anderson, there's something I need to tell you about Jack," I began, talking slowly.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Oh, this was going to be harder than I thought.

"Jack's been arrested…" I said slowly.

There was no reply for a while. Then, she spoke. "Wait…. What?"

"Jack's in the police department now… he was framed for robbery. We just got a call saying that he fainted. We're on our way there."

"What?" She screamed. "You're not joking right? This isn't one of those teenage pranks is it?"

"No it's not!" I exclaimed, hoping my honesty would convey through the phone.

"He was framed, Mrs. Anderson… meet us at the San Jose Police Department."

"I'm on my way." She said, and hung up.

"What did she say?" Rudy asked, as he turned into the parking lot of the police department.

"She's on her way… I don't think she took that very well…" I said, sinking lower in the front seat.

"What, you think she'll be happy that her son's in jail? Yeah Kim, I'm also surprised that she didn't take that very well!" He eyed me sarcastically.

"Just shut up and drive!" I barked, crossing my arms. Rudy parked in front of the department, and we both got out of the car, and into the building. We entered in and saw a bald man who was sitting in his chair…sleeping.

"Um… sir?" I said getting closer to him. Instead of replying with words, the police officer just continued snoring like there was no tomorrow. I was getting irritated. "Rudy, this idiot won't wake up!"

"Relax… I got this!" Rudy said, walking forward the way Jerry did- he called it 'swag' (we called it stupid). "WAKE UP!" He screamed.

"Miley Stewart is Hannah Montana!" He screamed as he got up. "Wait… did I just give out the secret?"

I ignored the fictional comment. "Hi, my name's Kim, and this is Rudy… we're looking for Jack Anderson."

"Jack? Oh, right I called you to know that he fainted… he's over there." He pointed to a jail cell in the far corner, and we saw Jack collapsed on the cot. Rudy and I ran over to him.

"Can you please unlock the door?" I asked frantically, rattling on the bars.

"Ugh, fine… but no funny business, alright?" He stumbled over lazily and pulled out a huge key ring. "Thanks for making me getting up and walk all the way here!"

"Are all police officers lazy?" I asked annoyed.

"We're usually hyper and active at night… might be our special Midnight Coffee, I don't know," He said unlocking the door. Rudy and I literally burst inside the room to see Jack. Rudy and I knelt beside him and started shaking him vigorously.

"Jack… Jack… please, wake up!" I said shaking him. But it was no use. He didn't move a muscle.

"C'mon, buddy! Wake up!" Rudy came in. Again, it was no use. I felt like crying….why wouldn't Jack wake up?

"You don't think he's…" I started.

"No… he's still breathing…" Rudy said. "Come on, Jack…you gotta get up! YOU GOTTA GET UP!"

"Rudy… it's not going to work this time!" I said.

"Hi… I'm looking for my son, Jack Anderson!" I heard a frantic voice. The lady rushed in, and I finally saw who it was. She had the same shade of brown hair, and brown eyes as Jack did. She seemed a little young for someone with a fourteen-year-old son… but I knew who she was.

"Mrs. Anderson?" I asked. She looked like she was about to start bawling.

"Hi Kim," She said. "Is he okay?"

"He's not waking up," Rudy said.

I saw Mrs. Anderson's face brighten up. "And uh… who are you?"

"Oh, I'm…" He looked up at her, and his eyes softened. "Ru…Ru..."

"That's Rudy," I said irritably finishing his sentence. "He's our sensei."

"Well, hello there," Jack's mom said, smiling cordially and adjusting her hair. I almost gagged in disgust.

"Uh… Jack's still passed out here!" I said, pointing at Jack. His Mom's face immediately switched from "in love" to "worried". She knelt beside Jack, with tears running down her rosy cheeks.

"Jack… please… please, wake up!" she said.

And surprisingly…it worked…with a little screaming…__

_**(Jack's POV) **_

I didn't know what was happening, but I'm pretty sure I was dreaming. The last actual thing I remember is Officer Collins shaking her head in disappointment, while I was behind…bars. Now I seem to be living a nightmare.

The scene blurred into my head. I was standing in the center of a park, which looked oddly familiar. Children were giggling and riding on swings, sliding on slides and just running around. I was walking around the park confused, when I saw an old man dropping his things and muttering in frustration. I rushed to help him up with his things.

"Let me help you, mister," I said, picking up his things. He didn't reply, but

I still bent and collected his items. Wait…was that a karate medal? I looked up into his face and stumbled back in horror and shock. I knew who this was.

"G-g-granddad?" I stammered

He smiled and stepped forward. I wanted to hug him and start bawling, but I restrained myself. I'm a tough guy... and tough guys don't do that.

"Jack," He said, resting his hands on my shoulders. "You've grown, my dear boy." He walked around the park and looked at the little kids. "Do you remember this place?"

I chuckled. "Yeah," I said, smiling. "You used to take me to the park every day when I was little…and…you…taught me….karate." The pieces were all falling into place. This was why Granddad dragged me to the park every single day. This was why he always made me watch all those old Bobby Wasabi movies.

"I see you realize my purpose now. And, I'm proud to say it worked perfectly.

Look how far you've become." He gave me a hug… and despite my toughness…I hugged him back, tears trickling down my face. "I'm so proud of you, Jack.

You're doing so many wonderful things, helping your dojo and all. You've done great."

"Granddad," I said pulling away. "Am I… dead?"

He chuckled. "You're not dead, my son, just passed out. You took the jail thing very bad."

"Well yeah, because I went to JAIL!" I screamed. "But granddad…why'd you leave me?"

"Everyone has to leave at their time," He said. I hated it when he went all wise and never answered my questions directly. "I don't control when my time comes, Jack."

"But you left me all alone!" I said. "You were almost like dad. He already left me…my heart broke when you left me too."

"Jack…" He said coming closer to me. "How long I really stay, depends on you. I'll always be with you, Jack. You just have to remember me."

"I always will. You helped me achieve big things. I don't think I could repay you for that." I said.

"Oh…but seeing you so successful and happy mean that my job is done." He said, but this time backing away.

"Wait…where are you going?" I said, trying to step closer. Every step I took forward, he would take one back.

"Jack…this is goodbye," He said. "Help is on the way."

I widened my eyes. "Granddad!"

The vivid colors in the park started growing too bright and I clutched my head in pain. The park started fading away and little black dots danced at the edges of my vision. Faintly, as if in the back of my head, I heard people screaming…

**IMPORTANT A/N- That's it for Chapter 6! Hope you all loved it! Review please! We worked really hard on it, trying to balance it with our honors courses, so please review. Speaking of reviews, I want to propose something for y'all. It's called the 50 REVIEWS CHALLENGE! Okay, so here's how it works. We have about 2-3 more chapters before our SHOCKING pre-ending for this fanfic. So, until then I'd like to get to at least 50 reviews, because we've been working really hard on this, so it would be nice! As a reward, if before the shocking pre-ending we have AT LEAST 50 reviews, then we'll do an EPILOGUE for this fanfic, once the story is over! Think y'all are up for the challenge? Let's see! **

**Also, check out Locked In, another fanfic co-written with Alyss Mei but on her account ConfusingStateOfMind. Hope you all like it! **

**Chapter 7's on the way! Thanks for the support!**

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei. **


	7. Chapter 7

**IMPORTANT A/N-Hey Halloween Thief lovers! Alyss Mei and I are back… with the seventh chapter of Halloween Thief! After reading this AMAZING chapter, you will go out of with questions answered…and new questions whirling around in your head. We'll just have to see! Haha, hope you like the chapter! And, remember the 50 reviews challenge is still ON! So far, we got 30 reviews! That's amazing! Thank you all so much, continue reviewing the chapters and giving feedback! **

**P.S- I was listening to Breathe by Taylor Swift while writing this chapter, so there is a little chance I may have written the lyrics by accident. So, sorry about that! But if I didn't then… alright goody for me! :D **

_**Part 1: Kim's POV **_

Hearing Jack screaming (admittedly, like a girl), it made me want to join him in a shrieking contest. It was awful. It was tragic. I was afraid my hair had turned white from fear. It was…well, maybe you'd like to hear _why _exactly. Allow me to recap my side of the story. Hopefully (or maybe not) you'll understand why I'm scared to death. Here goes…

"Jack! Honey!" Jack's mom exclaimed, trying to get him to calm down.

"Granddad!" he screamed, sweats beading at his temples. He shot up from the cot and looked around frantically, his eyes rolling from side to side. He was turning left and right, yet it seemed like he couldn't see us, despite the fact that we were standing right in front of him, screaming right back.

I grabbed his hand and he seemed to instantly relax, his shoulders slumping and the tension leaving his body. I too felt my worry slipping away…I could feel my hand tingling. "Jack, it's okay! It's just us. Are you okay?" It seemed like a pretty dumb question- of course he wasn't.

"You okay, bud?" Rudy stepped closer, pretty much restating my redundant question.

Jack clutched his head and swayed slightly, almost as if he was dizzy. "What happened? I feel like my head was bashed in with a club."

"I got a call from Kimmy, here," Mrs. Anderson began. I ignored the nickname for now. "Saying that you were arrested. Now I know…she wasn't kidding. I'd never thought I'd live to see the day that my precious, baby son would get locked up in a cell."

"Mom…I didn't do it," Jack said firmly. "I swear. You have to believe me. Marcus…he had this tape with me apparently 'confessing' to the crime. I never said that! Nobody believes me- you HAVE to!"

"Jack, you're wrong," Rudy stated. "Kim and I believe you. And so does Milton, Jerry and Eddie."

"Okay, I'm really confused," Mrs. Anderson said. "Who's Marcus? And you never told me about these certificates and awards being stolen."

"Why would he tell you, if he stole it?" a familiar, wheezy, snarky voice said. I whipped around to see Officer Collins, standing there, clutching a bag of potato chips. Okay, I officially DESPISE her. How could she put Jack in jail? She knows perfectly well that Jack didn't do anything…he was helping out the whole time.

"And who are you?" Jack's mom asked, impatiently.

"Officer Collins… how ya doing?" she said, holding out a greasy hand full of crumbs. Jack's mom looked at it in disgust.

"Hi, nice to meet you," she said half-heartedly. There was a moment of awkward silence. Jack and I exchanged looks of irritation.

"Well?" I asked irritably at her.

"Jack's case is pretty serious here," she began. "I'm afraid he's going to be in the slammer for a while…but hey, it's not so bad! We're actually one of the better prisons in town- 3 meals a day, padded cots…we just removed all the rats from the cells…."

"There is no case with me!" Jack said, frantically. "I'm innocent! INNOCENT!"

"Alright, calm your cheese!" Officer Collins exclaimed, holding out a hand.

"Calm his cheese?" I repeated, completely confused. "Who tells someone to calm their… cheese?"

"Look, there's nothing I can do about it," the lady-cop replied. "It's out of my hands." She shook her arms dismissively and shrugged her shoulders.

A heated urge to scream back at her filled my body. I took a look at Jack, who had sank back onto the cot, head in his hands. I was determined to get him out.

"No, how 'bout _you_ look," I snapped, my voice filled with venom. "I'm tired of your 'I-don't-give-a-care' attitude. You're a police officer- you're supposed to protect the people. And I'm not the only one who thinks you're not doing your job. Now," I motioned towards Jack, "you have a perfectly innocent civilian who's been accused of theft and vandalism. He hasn't even had a trial, you just locked him away in some rat-infested cell, based on inaccurate evidence. So, you do your job to the fullest of your ability, or you're going to be in a heap load of trouble."

I didn't even know how I was to get a cop in trouble, but my speech worked. Officer Collins looked terrified. "W-why don't I make you a deal?" she stuttered, scrambling to get the words out. "I'll give you two days…he'll have to stay in the slammer, but I won't put it on your permanent record. If someone turns himself or herself in, saying it was them and not you, I'll let you out."  
>I brightened. "Thank you-"<p>

"Wait," she stopped me. "But…if no one shows up, or we haven't found anything…he'll be sentenced to jail."

I frowned again. "But he's innocent!" I exclaimed. Why wouldn't this lady understand?

"From your point of view. But how do I know he's not lying, and the evidence _was _true?" she replied.

"So you don't think the evidence was true?" Rudy piped up, pointing out her choice in wording.

"I'm a cop, I'm not supposed to take sides," she replied, effectively evading the question.

I groaned. _Now_ she decides to be evasive! Mrs. Anderson looked positively unsatisfied with the turn of events- even though it was giving us a little leniency. "I will not have this! I'm not letting my son rot in here for the rest of his life!" Her eyes started to water.

"Ma'am," Rudy protested. "You don't have a choice. All we have to do is cross our fingers."

"I'm getting my lawyers," she mumbled angrily. She turned to Jack. "Jack…I know you're innocent…don't worry sweetie, Mummy's not going to stand for this! I'm going to-"

"Yes, we get it! You're taking it to the stinking lawyers, now get out!" The cop ushered her out the door. Mrs. Anderson scoffed, but left the building, the heels on her pumps clacking loudly against the linoleum floor. I suppressed a laugh at Jack's mom's behavior.

"Yeah, my mom's annoying," Jack agreed, rubbing his temples.

"I'm going to go talk to Wanda about this," Rudy said, also exiting the jail cell. Jack turned to me with worried eyes. It was just him and me…but this time I was almost glad to be alone with him.

"I'm worried, Kim," he said.

"Jack, I'm scared too…" I admitted. "I don't want my best friend in jail for something he didn't do. I'm going to look for those thieves… don't worry. I promise."

"Hey, I want to help you too!" Jack whined. "But I know I can't. Without me, you'll end up in serious trouble! What if something happened to you? What if-"

"Jack!" I exclaimed. "I'll be fine! I know how to take care of myself…you don't need to be so overprotective."

Jack's face grew angry. "Well, considering your parents are gone and don't even know that you're turning fourteen on Friday, I'm pretty much the only person you have to be the overprotective one!" I could my feel my face growing red after he said that…just when I almost forget about my parents, he of all people bring it up…as an insult.

"Whatever," I said. I was fuming with anger now. I couldn't believe he just said that. So much for a good friend, I thought impulsively. "Good luck spending the rest of your life behind bars, Jack!" I grabbed my bag, and started heading out, when Jack caught my arm. I turned back and faced him. His chocolate brown eyes gave an apologetic stare. I could feel myself melting as soon as I saw him.

_Wow, Kim… just wow._

"Kim I'm sorry…I shouldn't have said that." He said. "I just care about you…I know your parents are never around and all…I just want to be a good friend." First off, I was glad he didn't mention Dylan. But mostly I was thinking how sweet and stupid he was…. Sweet because he cares about me…stupid because after knowing me for almost a year doesn't still get my full potential. But I felt guilty for saying that to him…you know, what I said before. Sometimes, I just get mad and blurt things out that I don't really mean. I looked into his eyes, and gave him a sympathetic look.

"It's okay," I said. "You just care about me as a friend…I shouldn't be taking that as a negative thing. But maybe you care about me a little too much…" I raised my eyebrows, conveying that I was only teasing. He chuckled weakly.

"Just please don't go in too deep with finding the thief," Jack said. "I don't want you getting hurt or anything."

"Wha… ugh, fine," I said reluctantly. "I won't go in too deep,"

"Good," He said smiling. He sat down on the cot and lied down, groaning in agony. It reminded me of how he was screaming "granddad" as he woke up, earlier.

"Jack?" I asked him. "Why were you screaming Granddad when you woke up?"

Jack got up from the pillow, and started looking at me now, with sad eyes. "I didn't tell you, did I?"

"Tell me what?" I sat on the cot and ended up face-to-face with Jack.

"Well-"

"JACK! WHERE ARE YOU BUDDY?" Jerry's frantic, slightly muffled voice boomed through the doors.

"He's in there," Officer Collin said lazily, audible smacking noises filtering through as well.

I heard a rumble of noise, and looked over at my shoulder to see Milton, Jerry and Eddie crashing into the cell, looking crazed.

"Ah, Christmas Nuts!" Milton said. "We're late, aren't we?"

"This is so horrible," Eddie said his head in his hands. "I can't look!"

"Jack…oh my god, look at you, bro! You're eyes are all red…your forehead's sweaty, and…ooh, ever thought of showering in this dump?" Jerry covered his nose. I smacked his shoulder and gave him a sharp glare.

"So, what did the cop say?" Eddie asked.

"Can you leave?" Milton said.

"Did they find the real thief?" Eddie asked again.

"Are you guys dating?" Jerry asked smiling. I smacked him again, this time much harder. Jerry cringed and stepped backwards, hiding behind Eddie.

"Shut up, Jerry!" I said, my face turning red. Jack stiffened next to me and stood up, shifting uncomfortably on his feet.

"Okay!" Jack said. "Officer Collins said that she's giving us two days, to find out the real thief. If you guys don't find any evidence proving that I'm innocent, I'm going to be sentenced into jail."

"What? This decision of that Lady-Cop is so irrational!" Milton said, shaking his head.

"Whatever, Milton," Eddie said. "The point is that with the two days' time we have to prove Jack's innocence!"

"Yeah!" Jerry agreed. "Watch us come to you with the certificates in one hand, and the thief in the other!"

I smiled half-heartedly along with them, but highly doubted if we were really going to catch that thief…in two days…or in other words…the day before my birthday.

Now you understand why I wanted to scream along with Jack.

_**Part Two: Milton's POV **_

Okay, remember how Jerry said that we'd have our certificates in one hand and the thief in the other by Thursday? Well… today is Thursday….and my hands are empty.

In fact, everybody's hands are empty. Trust me when I say this, we worked really hard catching that thief…we came in before school to look around…we stayed after school…we even grabbed random students by their collar and began to interrogate them- well, at least Jerry did, even though half of the people couldn't have been a suspect. We talked to Marcus-I hate that kid, by the way-and he swore to us that Jack said those words. He overheard him in the hallway. Why would he have said that, talking to no one in particular?

It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense this week. Arthur keeps shoving me and Eddie every time he walks past us in the hallway. Truman however has this look of panic whenever he sees us…tinged with guilt and pity. As for Kim, she's been completely disoriented for the past two days. Eddie, Jerry and I were starting to worry about her. She'd come into school with messy hair, and black circles around her eyes, as if she never slept. She must have been really worried about Jack.

I decided to go to her house and check on her. We were going to the police department anyway, to see if we could get more time to catch that thief. Jerry, Eddie and Rudy were already on their way. I figured I should get Kim, and check on her as well.

I parked my bike (which happened to be completely, and totally, AWESOME) in her driveway, and hit the doorbell. It took her a while to open the door, but she did- looking worse than ever. When she saw me, her shoulders relaxed and she smiled a tiny bit. Well, I do have that effect on people!

"Hi Milton," Kim said, stepping aside to let me in. "What are you doing here?"

I walked inside her house, looking around…it seemed to have been the first time I ever even saw Kim's house…or any girl's house.

"Well, we were all heading to the police department," I said. "We were figuring if we could get more time for Jack."

"What's the point?" Kim said hopelessly. "They won't give us any time, and Jack's going to sentenced in prison…we pretty much let him down."

"We can at least try," I said soothingly. "Hey, maybe your parents can help out! I mean, they own so many businesses, they could maybe bail Jack out! Jack's mom would bail Jack out, but the police won't let her. Apparently, they won't take family support for this case. But your parents aren't related to Jack! See, I'm so smart!" I said proudly.

Kim looked up at me, and I noticed for the first time, that her eyes were filling up with tears. Was it something I said?

"Let's just go to the police department…there could be hope after all," she said half-heartedly. She ran outside to grab her skateboard, and I followed her, and shut the door.

"Hey…Kim, wait!" I whined. "You know I don't catch up very fast!"

But Kim ignored me, and continued riding on that stupid skateboard of hers. In a rush, I climbed on The Milton Mobile (my bike) and pedaled fast to catch up with her. We ended up racing to the police station, but Kim never cracked a smile. She seemed really upset… but why? Tomorrow's her freaking birthday; she's supposed to be excited! Well, then again I'm not sure if this birthday is going to be fun for her, considering her to-be-boyfriend might spend the majority of his life in jail.

After a while of pedaling, we FINALLY made it to the police department. Without even glancing at me, Kim parked her skateboard near Rudy's car. Jerry and Eddie came out and rushed over to me.

"How's Kim doing?" Eddie asked.

"Not good," I sighed. "She seems really depressed…and come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen her like this!"

"Yeah, I know right?" Jerry said. We heard the sound of doors slamming open, and saw Kim rushing into the building, trailed by Rudy.

"We need more time for Jack!" I said.

"But how are we going to do it?" Eddie asked. "That cop is so rude...she took half my burrito the other day!"

"Ugh, we should've stayed longer in school!" Jerry said.

"Hey, we stayed as long as we could!" I said. "But that is one smart thief. And I even asked Marcus if he could help us and-"

"Why would you ask him?" Eddie said. "He's the one that caused this! Officer Collins was about to give in, but he stepped in and ruined everything! Jerk!"

"Yeah, seriously bro…not so smart now are ya?" Jerry teased.

"Let's just get in, you toad!" I insulted. Jerry gave me a mocking face, and we three rushed in the building, and saw Kim and Rudy arguing with Officer Collins, with Jack clutching the bars, and involving in the conversation as much as he could.

"Hi Jack," I waved weakly. I couldn't bear seeing HIM of all people behind bars. I turned and saw Kim almost screaming at Officer Collins.

"What's wrong with you?" Kim started, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"Excuse me, but I am doing my job!" Officer Collins defended. "I gave you two days! We haven't found him, and you haven't! That ultimately proves that Jack is indeed to blame!"

"Kim…hold on I got an idea." Rudy said, with a smolder. He got closer to Officer Collins.

"Uh…what are you doing?" Eddie said, his eyes widening. He looked as if he was being told to break out his cello and dance.

"Hey, Wanda," Rudy said, overly casual. "You…me… date Saturday night!"

I think we all almost threw up when he asked her out. I mean, seriously, Jack is about to be in jail, and Rudy's asking Officer Collins on a _date_? That's just messed up.

"Oh, I'm flattered," Officer Collins giggled. "No one's ever asked me out before! Not even for my senior prom!

"All it takes is one empty jail cell, Wanda" Rudy said coolly. OH, now I get what he was doing! The rest of us smiled at Rudy's smart move. Unfortunately, Officer Collin's "flirty" smile disappeared into a frown.

"Nice try, BUB!" Officer Collins smacked him. "Jack's committed his crime…and now he's got to do his time!" I glanced at Jack, who was staring at the ground desolately. He definitely looked like he could use a good shower- his hair was mussed and his face looked distraught.

"And to think I was going to take you out somewhere nice! Humph!" Rudy stomped.

"I don't want short men!" Officer Collins retorted.

"How dare you call me short?" Rudy gasped.

"Dude, you kind of are short," Jerry said. Kim smacked him.

"You're not helping Jerry!" Kim hissed.

"I'll allow you to say goodbyes to your little criminal," Officer Collins said. "But make it quick! Jack needs to go to the court house to decide how long he's going to be staying in jail." We followed her to Jack's jail cell and she let us in. We all looked at Jack. He looked like he wanted to cry.

"Jack…" I began. "We're sorry… we tried our best."

"I know you did," Jack said. "I don't blame you guys."

"But because of us, you're going to be in jail now," Eddie said sadly.

"Well, we can't do anything about it now, can we?" Jack asked. "It's not your fault. I don't know how the thief framed me for saying that. I swear, I never said that."

"We know," Jerry said. "But don't worry, we'll try and bail you out!"

"Guys…" Jack said standing up. "I don't want you spending money on me. According the police officer, you need to pay a fine of fifty thousand dollars to bail me out."

"I don't have that kind of money!" I said.

"Me neither!" Eddie said.

"Exactly," Jack said. "So, this is it then…I'm a criminal."

"Well then…this is goodbye," Jerry said. He gave Jack a hard hug, with his signature-man-clap on the back and pulled away, his eyes red. "I'm sorry buddy."

"I'm going to miss you, Jerry," Jack said. Eddie and I went up next and gave him a hug. I knew this was going to take me a while to process the fact that my best friend was actually going to be in jail. And I don't even know when we were going to see him again. I could feel my face turning pink…a sign that tears will be arriving shortly.

"I'll miss you guys too," Jack said. We patted him and walked away. Rudy came in next and hugged Jack.

"This isn't over Jack," Rudy said. "We'll find a way." He pulled away and gave Jack a sympathetic smile. He smiled back, but knew that this was indeed the end. The only person that was left to say goodbye to Jack, was Kim. It was like she was frozen…even she couldn't take this in.

"Kim…" Jack began, but Kim just ran towards him and squeezed him tight. I could tell she was trying to fight back tears, but they still streamed down her rosy cheeks. That was the first time we ever saw The Kim Crawford actually cry. But we knew it wouldn't be appropriate to tease her about it… we all pretty much heartbroken.

"I'm going to miss you," she choked out. Jack squeezed her tighter, tears trickling out of his bloodshot eyes. We slowly walked out of the jail cell, knowing they needed some time alone. We couldn't help but look at their dramatic moment.

"I'll miss you too," Jack said, still clutching her waist. "But I'll always be with you…you just have to remember me," They pulled away and locked eyes. Jerry and I exchanged looks… this was it…they were going in!

"How could I forget about you?" she said, a bittersweet smile curving on her face. "You're the probably the most annoying person I've met."

Jack wiped the tears from her eyes. "Well, I know I'll never forget you," They were leaning in; they're faces inches apart when a sudden yelp came from the door.

"HOLD EVERYTHING!" I heard a very familiar voice. "JACK ANDERSON IS INNOCENT! I KNOW WHO THE REAL THIEF IS! I HAVE ALL OF RUDY'S THINGS!" We all turned to look at who shouted it. The boy stood still, with his spiky dirty blonde hair, and his slight chubby body, his nasally voice of his echoing throughout the building. We all knew who it was, and were horrified and relieved at the same time to see him with a huge pile of papers in his hands.

It was Truman.

**A/N- Oh. My. God. Huge cliffhanger! For those who don't like cliffhangers…well…get used to it, because the next chapters will have the most shocking cliffhangers, you will be in the edge of your seats, just DYING to know what's happening! So, recap: Jack and Kim almost KISSING? Jack almost sentenced in JAIL? But the biggest question of all… TRUMAN? All will be answered in the next chapter… well maybe not the whole Jack/Kim thing…I don't think they'd want to talk to about that it would be very awkward… but TRUMAN will definitely be answered in the next chapter, and stay tuned, because in the next chapter you will find out who the THIEF is! But just know, that the next chapter isn't the last one…there's still more to come. PLEASE CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW AND REVIEW! I'd love to see who you all think the thief is… is it Truman? Arthur? Officer Collins? All will be answered! BUT PLEASE REVIEW FOR THE 50 REVIEWS CHALLENGE! Thanks for reading! :D **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N- Hey everybody! Alyss Mei and I are back with the EIGTH chapter of Halloween Thief! So, anyway hope you all like it, and the BIGGEST question of all will be revealed! Just know…this isn't over yet…I'll let you know when it's over, or before over! But know, please enjoy the REVEALING chapter! **

_**Part 1: Jack's POV **_

"Truman?" I asked my eyes wide with disbelief. I slowly crossed over to the cell bars, resting my head against the cool steel. I hoped my eyes weren't deceiving me…but no, the person standing in front of me had every aspect of Truman, down to the double-knotted loafers.

One minute, I'm going to court, and…I think…almost kissing Kim, and now I see Truman sauntering through the prison doors, waving everything we've been scouring for the past week.

"No Jack, I'm Justin Bieber!" Truman snapped, his voice harsh and sarcastic in contrast to the relief coasting through me. I rolled my eyes…yeah, that was Truman alright.

"So, do you mind telling me why you just burst in here, screaming at the top of your lungs?" Officer Collins asked, tapping one foot impatiently.

"I just couldn't take the guilt anymore…Jack shouldn't be in jail! He didn't do it, and I have your proof right here," he announced, handing over the stack of white papers.

"Alright, lay it on me," the cop said. "Of course, not literally…We don't want to ruin this body, do we?" We all cringed in disgust. Truman dug through the pile of papers, finally removing a slightly-larger, official appearing document. If that wasn't the lease…well, then I hoped it was the best counterfeit ever made.

Officer Collins seemed to take forever to skim the document, occasionally flipping back and forth between pages. Honestly woman, how long does it take you to read 6-pt font? "This is…-"

"The lease agreement," Truman confirmed, smugly sitting on her desk. "The real one, that is. If you look at the one taped under Jack's desk, you'll notice slight differences between Rudy's signatures. Also, Rudy, when did you buy the dojo?"

"Ah…" Rudy furrowed his brow, "January 13th, 2010!"

"How do you remember the exact date?" I asked, surprised. I mean that man couldn't remember where he left Tip -Tip, let alone the date of the dojo's purchase!

"Hey, that day was the best day of my life!" Rudy said.

"Oh, because you bought the dojo?" Kim asked.

"No!" Rudy said. "Because I got front-row, backstage exclusive Lady Gaga tickets to her concert! Go Gaga!" He cheered, doing a little dance I _never _wanted to see again.

"Anyway, if we can go back to the dojo…" Truman said, staring pointedly at Rudy. "If you take a look at the date on the one that was taped on Jack's desk, the date was wrong…Officer Collins do you have it?"

She jerked open one of the drawers in a file cabinet, revealing a huge stack of manila folders, all lined up and labeled. Heck, I bet they were even color-coded. She shuffled through a few, before plucking one out labeled "Bobby Wasabi Dojo." Sitting on top was a document nearly identical to the "Truman" copy in her hands.

She frowned for a second, and peered at the date. "Jumping clams, you're absolutely right! How could I have missed that!" she exclaimed, eyes widening. Well, considering her addiction to gum, chips and laziness, I could see how that would be managed.

"And I also have the certificates, right here," Truman replied, holding out a few papers. I glanced at Kim and Rudy in shock. We've been looking for those papers everywhere, and now, suddenly, they just appear, and in Truman's hands, no less. But the only thing was: who took the papers? Everything that just unfolded in the past five minutes points to Truman, but…

"Wait," Kim said. "So you took the papers?"

"Absolutely not!" Truman exclaimed, looking offended. "But now you have the certificates and awards. That's all that matters…right?" His voice cracked on the last few words. I frowned. This wasn't looking too good.

Of course, Rudy was too oblivious to notice. "Yes it DOES!" He hugged the papers to his chest. "I missed you so much…daddy loves you all!"

"Does this mean I'm out of jail?" I looked up at Officer Collins hopefully, plastering the best _I'm innocent _look I could muster on my face.

"Be quiet!" she snapped at me. "This doesn't prove anything! Now, Truman, did you take all of this?"

Truman looked like he wanted to say something, but he bit back his words. "Oh, hey look," he said, conveniently changing the subject. "I even have 300 dollars for you, Rudy!" He pulled a wad of green bills out of his pocket and tossed it to Rudy, who kissed it happily.

"Truman…"Milton began. "_Are _you the thief?"

"No, I swear!" His voice was defensive. "I just happened to steal it from the thief!"

"And the thief is…?" Eddie asked, looking at Truman suspiciously.

He quickly scanned the room, his eyes landing on every person, and spun around, making a dash for the door. Officer Collins lunged and grabbed his by the back of his shirt. "Spill the beans, boy!" she crowed.

"Alright, alright," Truman screeched, his high-pitched squeal sounding very much like a little girl's. "Just let go of me!"

Officer Collins reluctantly let go of her iron-grasp on his shirt and Truman quickly brushed out the wrinkles. When he looked up, his eyes were panicked, as if revealing the thief's name would kill him.

"Come on guys…Jack, Rudy…Officer Collins…does it really matter who the thief is?" he talked slowly, offering us a sheepish smile. "I mean, you have everything you need!"

"No!" Officer Collins exclaimed. "This isn't enough proof that Jack is innocent. You either tell us who did it, or Jack's staying in jail!"

Truman looked torn. He looked anxiously from me, to the documents on Officer Collins' desk, to Officer Collins, and back to me. He took a deep breath, and shifted uncomfortably. The silence and tension in the room was enough to make a person go mad- I was barely refraining from kicking the concrete wall.

"Okay," he said softly. He turned to Kim and walked up to her. She regarded him with disdain. "Kim?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Do you remember going to England to compete when you were a Black Dragon?" The question was completely out of the blue and I was not expecting it. What did this have to do with anything? Officer Collins' patience was rapidly depleting, and her eye was twitching.

Kim frowned. "Um…yeah! I was eight or nine…but it's fuzzy…I don't remember the details."

Truman looked satisfied and pulled something out of his pocket. He handed it to Kim- it was a glossy photograph. "Maybe this will jog your memory."

Kim looked even more confused. "What? What is…?" Her eyes brightened with realization, and then her face darkened. She stumbled back, crashing into the wall. "No!" she exclaimed. Her mouth was open to say something else, but she suddenly crumpled to the ground.

"Kim!" I exclaimed, rattling the bars of my cell. _What had Truman __**done**__?_

_**Kim's POV **_

As soon as Truman whipped out that picture…something clicked inside my head, as if the gears had been jammed, but suddenly they whirred back to life. Flashes of visions flew past my eyes, so quickly I couldn't keep track. My head throbbed painfully and it felt as if the ground was rocking underneath my feet. The vivid colors of the visions and the bleak prison walls blurred into a huge, swirling mass, until _that _fell away to darkness. Sweet darkness.

When the light returned, my head was splitting and it took me several moments to realize…I wasn't in the jail anymore. I was soaring above a large, bustling city, almost as if I was a bird. It felt as if something, like an invisible rope, was tugging me towards a certain area of…London? Yeah, there was the Big Ben. So I was in London…why?

And…speaking of the Big Ben…I was rapidly flying towards it! I tried to stop…turn around…even move my arms, but I had no control over my body. I tried to scream, but no words came out. Flashes of color and light swarmed behind my eyes, and the splitting throbbing reappeared. Just before I was about to crash into the clock face…everything went black.

I opened my eyes for a second time…now I was sitting against a building. I found myself able to move my limbs- which were a great relief- but that same "rope" was drawing me towards something. Well, at least I wasn't _flying_.

For some strange, incomprehensible reason, I turned my head to the left and focused on a group of people walking in black silk karate gi. All of them were male; except for a little blond head that bobbed between the groups…was that _me?_

It _was_! Why was I in London? I frowned. I knew this…I knew this! What was it? Ugh, I gave up. That nagging feeling that I knew _why_ was bothering me to no end.

That "rope" tugged me towards the group, so I followed them, wondering what on _Earth _I was doing. The group walked into a long, flat building. Before the door could close, I quickly snuck through. Inside it was dark, the only light coming from eerie red lanterns flickering on the walls.

I walked faster, trying not to get lost in the dark. Suddenly, I stumbled against someone, who cried out in surprise. "Frank!" a gruff voice called. "Was that you?"

"Yes, Sensei?" another voice said.

"Did you just walk into me?"

"I'm at the front…what are you talking about?"

"I think someone followed us in here! Security!"

The sound of heavy, booted footsteps immediately became audible, and a bright, overhead light flicked on. I quickly stepped back, but there was nowhere to hide. A slightly younger, less wrinkled Sensei stood before me. He glared right at me…but he didn't say anything. I frowned. Did he not see me? I was standing right in front of him!

I shifted from side to side, trying to see if his eyes would follow me. They didn't, he merely frowned and turned back around. "False alarm!" he exclaimed. "There's no one there."

OK, _what _was going on? How did he not see me…oh my gosh! I must be dead! I must be a ghost! Panic shot through me. How could I be dead? I must have had a heart attack! But why…I'm so young! There were things I wanted to do, places I wanted to go, people I wanted to meet! I didn't even tell Jack I loved him…Wait, what? Thinking about Jack seemed to ease my mind- it stopped the dull throbbing, and helped clear my thoughts.

I took a deep breath and tried to think sensibly. The Sensei had _felt _me bump into him…so I can't be a ghost. I sighed with relief. I must just be invisible. Or maybe I'm just dreaming. Yeah. That has to be it.

I was so caught up in my thoughts, that I realized I was completely alone in the hallway. Fortunately, the lights were still on, so I could see that there was a multitude of gray doors lining the walls...all completely identical.

I groaned. _Now _what? The tugging feeling had completely disappeared, leaving me in the long, expansive hallway with no guidance whatsoever. I looked around, panicking. Far ahead of me, I saw a door swing shut …that must be them! I hoped so.

I quickly crept through, and fortunately, saw the Black Dragons. Unfortunately, they were standing so close to the door, that it whacked Frank in the back, causing him to stumble forward. I jumped backward, but Frank only frowned and turned back around. I managed to squeeze through the tiny opening and crawl into a corner of the room. It looked like we were backstage at some concert.

A tiny crack of light appeared in front of us, and I glimpsed what looked like to be a huge karate dojo. I clutched my head, trying to figure out _what the heck_ I was doing here! I think…I…remember…Ugh. Nothing. What was wrong with me!

Huge curtains swung aside, and the room was filled with light. Another team, dressed in blue, stood directly across the huge white mat.

I realized now...we were at a karate tournament. The Black Dragons ran forward, doing impressive flips and cartwheels. The audience erupted in cheers and cries. I wanted to grab a microphone and reveal the lying, scheming truth about the Black Dragons…but of course, this is just a vision.

But this looks all too familiar, and I suddenly realize…it's not a vision or a dream…it's a memory!

I snuck between the curtains and sat against one of the walls, trying to enjoy the show. There must be some reason for me going back to this time…so why?

I was the last to go up. We were tied against the opposing team, and it was up to me…the nine-year-old, I mean. I watched the Young Kim confidently stride up to the opposing member and bow. When I saw the other person, I had to do a double take.

Unevenly swept, ruffled blond hair…that wide mouth and fiery look in his eyes. It was…

_**Young Kim's POV:**__ Still within Kim's memory_

_Fight!_

My fist flew through the air, ready to make its mark against his chest. With an inhuman speed, he sidestepped, swinging his leg out in one, smooth motion. I barely managed to evade the attack, but he still clipped my shoulder.

Grimacing, I swept my leg across, hoping to trip his legs. He jumped backward, stumbling slightly. Neither of us made any progress, our speed and agility was evenly matched.

I put all my weight into a hard kick aimed at his chest. My foot was flying so fast, the kid was caught off guard…I remember the look of surprise and…something else...

_Bam!_ The breath was knocked out of me, and it took me several seconds to realize that I was flat on my back on the mat. Trembling, I somehow managed to rise to my knees. The blonde sneered at me, before something hard slammed against my skull. I was knocked back against the mat, eyes closed, and my short hair spreading across the ground.

_I always win_, a nasally whisper hissed into my ear.

I woke to a barrage of heavily accented voices. It was completely dark, and it took me a while to realize my eyes were closed. I struggled to open them, but for some reason, it was as if they were glued shut. I had no choice but to relax and listen.

_She's unconscious! _

_And the winner is…_

_The diagnosis came back. She has a mild case of amnesia; she will regain her memory back in a few days, but everything will be a complete blur. Thankfully, she won't remember the damage to her leg. _

_Our home town, Red Eye Dojo! Their first ever win, thanks to…_

_If she finds anything of this experience- a photograph, another person, trophy… her brain will link back to this memory. It is what naturally happens, yes? However, there is a very high chance her brain will remember __**this**__ ... her comatose state. The way her brain is wired, it can be sensed as a false alarm…and she will fall into a coma like this again. Although, it would be _**much **_more serious. Irrevocable damage could be issued to her brain._

_Marcus Thompson. _

The sound of strange, muted screaming rose to my ears. I couldn't move. I tried to scream, thrash about, but it was as if I was trapped. Trapped.

_**Part Two: Jerry's POV **_

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Kim started screaming. I was scared out of my _mind, _man! It was as if she had a nightmare. But not just any ordinary nightmare…

_THE nightmare. _

Okay, I don't know what I mean when I said THE nightmare…like, you know, a nightmare on steroids…yeah? You know what, never mind.

I turned around and saw Kim resting against the wall, clutching Jack's arm. Her hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, and she was breathing heavily. There was a panicked, far-away look in her eyes, as if she was scarred for life. I wondered what she had seen…

"Kim, are you okay?" Jack asked frantically.

"Marcus!" she screamed. "Marcus did it!" She looked hysterically around the small room, before her eyes landed on the photo. She screeched even louder, scrambling away from the picture. She was FREAKING OUT!

Jack grabbed her and held her trembling body close to his. He glared daggers at Truman. "Truman, what the heck did you DO?"

"There was a very valid reason why I showed her that picture!" he explained, his voice eerily calm.

Jack looked at Kim, his features instantly softening. "Kim…" Jack murmured soothingly. "It's okay, don't worry…just tell us what happened."

Kim nodded, still staring at the picture. She sat down on the cot- yeah; we were _still _in the prison- and pulled her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth. Okay, I have NEVER seen Kim like this- her defenses down, looking completely vulnerable. And using "Kim" and "vulnerable" in the same sentence is NOT normal. Hey…I used a big word!

"How long was I out?" Kim asked us, her voice shaking.

Milton glanced at his watch. "8 minutes and 43 seconds!" Milton cried triumphantly.

I shook my head at him disapprovingly. Not cool, man. Not cool.

"Kim, what did you see?" Rudy asked her. With the concerned look on his face, and the soothing tone in his voice, he resembled more and more like a parent. Ugh. I wanted the old, daredevil, embarrassing Rudy back!

"Okay," she said. "I've seen Marcus before. And it didn't end well."

"What happened?" Eddie asked.

"I was getting to that!" Kim snapped. It took a lot of interruptions, shaky breaths and broken sentences, but she slowly retold her memory.

When she was finished, everyone looked at her in shock. Jack narrowed his eyes. "Wait a second. Truman!" he barked.

I turned my head to see the little weasel trying to back away. "Get over here!"

"You could have just told us Marcus did it!" Eddie screamed.

"Again, there was a very important reason why I did that!" Truman said.

"Then, talk!" Officer Collins snapped. Truman jumped a little at the sound of her voice and scurried away from her.

"Alright, alright!" Truman said, annoyed. "I'll explain everything."

"We're listening," Jack said, glaring.

"Marcus was plotting to use it against her when you guys needed her the most. She would have passed out, or worse."

"How would it have been worse, though?" I asked, confused.

"Think about it…if Marcus showed _himself _in that karate uniform, that would've emotionally damaged Kim. Remember what the doctor said? Irrevocable damage could have been done to her brain if she slipped into a coma.

With me showing a picture, I regained her memory back. Marcus was planning to wear the karate uniform the next time he saw her, so she would've surely ended up in a hospital. Then Jack would have been broken-hearted and left the dojo, causing Rudy to go out of business. See?"

I was starting to understand everything now. Even though Marcus isn't a ghost, he sure is haunting us…especially Kim. But now I can say who took Rudy's things. Who the thief was, the one we've all been searching for the past week.

The Halloween Thief was Marcus.

_**Kim's POV**_

I was having a really hard time soaking in what just happened in the past fifteen minutes.

So I had a truly terrifying dream-flashback thing….and Marcus was in it…woke up screaming (totally embarrassing, by the way…Kim Crawfords don't scream!). It was _Marcus_ who did it! _He _took Rudy's Black Belt Certificates. _He _took Rudy's awards. _He _stole three hundred dollars. _And _he stole the lease agreement for the dojo. But why? He already hurt me when I was nine…what did we ever do to him?

I turned and faced Truman. "But why was Marcus out to get me like that?"

He sighed. "It was all part of his scheme. One of them was framing Jack." All our eyes darted towards him. That still didn't really answer my question, but I still wanted to hear about this.

"Wait…" Jack was thinking hard. His eyes widened. "Kim, remember how we found that walkie-talkie device thing at Rudy's place? That was-"

"Marcus." Truman finished for us. "He took the audio of your conversation that day. He stole the little words that made up that sentence, and put it on a CD, so you could get framed for the robbery." He handed Officer Collins another CD. "This was their real conversation."

Officer Collins took the CD and put it on her laptop. We all huddled around her computer.

"_Geez, this guy sure seemed desperate,"_ I heard my voice first. This conversation felt like it had taken place years ago…not just a few days! "_He even looked through Rudy's birth certificate!" _

"_Really?" _Jack's voice came in. Jack and I exchanged looks. "_God, this detective work is so freaking hard! I wish the thief would make our lives easier and shout 'I'm the thief'!" _

The rest of the guys chuckled. Officer Collins was just seriously looking into this conversation, like she was examining it.

"_Jack…really?" _

"_I'm sorry, but it's just that I…we…we're just kids. No one knows who took the certificates and awards…it's just irritating." _

"_Yeah, I guess I agree. Stupid thief…why can't he just make our lives easier and raise Alpacas?" _

There was a pause for a couple of seconds until Jack said, "_Kim, look at this!" _By now, we must have found the device thing. The recording abruptly stopped and Officer Collins looked at us.

"Wow," She said. "So Jack isn't the thief! But explain how there were cheat sheets and the lease agreement taped underneath!"

"Ugh," Truman said. He clearly looked fed up of explaining things. "That was another way to frame Jack, duh! When Marcus came in to 'help' you guys break out of detention, remember how he had those papers as a distraction?"

"Yes!" Milton said. "It didn't make much sense though."

"Yeah, I mean papers weren't such a big distraction." Jerry piped in.

"My awesome acting skills were far better than that paper distraction!" Eddie said.

"Well, he had the fake papers to tape underneath Jack's desk in all that chaos, so nobody could see." Truman said. It was one mystery after another, unfolded. "Is that all?"

"Yes, that's it," Officer Collins said, almost rather reluctantly. "Okay, Jack you are no longer arrested…and it won't go in your permanent record! So celebrate, do all your la-di-da. We'll work on our case to find that weird British kid."

Jack's eyes widened and his face brightened. We all cheered and hugged one another, happy that Jack wouldn't be in jail anymore. Jack even gave Truman a little bro-hug thing.

"Thanks Truman," Jack said. "I'd never thought I'd live to see the day you actually helping us."

"Well… now I've been boosted from frenemies to enemies so that's a good sign." He said happily. "I mean, believe me pulling pranks on you was funny, but now it's just taking things too far. I don't want to see you in jail…so you're welcome."

We all smiled and gave him a pat. He was smiling, too. "Hey, Truman I think we can call you our friend instead of a frenemy." I said, smiling.

Truman frowned in disgust. "No! I can't be seen with you people!" He promptly exited the prison and we all laughed.

"Alright," Rudy said. "Now that this is all taken care of, let's all go home! And Jack, your mom would definitely be happy about the fact that you're not in jail, so let's get going!"

We all walked out of the police station-finally-and in a long time, were all smiling.

"It's good to have you back, buddy!" Milton said to Jack.

"Yeah, welcome back brotha!" Eddie said.

"It's about time we got out of that dump!" Jerry complained.

I looked at Jack, who gave me a relieved smile. I smiled back…maybe this was going to be a good birthday after all.

My phone buzzed with a new text message…one glance at that and all my hopes were crushed. Jack frowned and looked over my shoulder to read, while the other guys were arguing about who was hotter (if you ask me, it's none). The chilling words of the message haunted me. Thousands of new questions sprouted, even when I had thought everything was done.

_Oh, Kim…you may think that it's over. You may think you've reunited with your boyfriend once again_. _You may think that there is a happily ever after. But in real life, there's never a happily ever after. EVER. Enjoy your birthday, while you have it. Prepare for it to be the last one you'll ever celebrate._

**A/N-You thought the story was over! NOPE! Sure, they found who took the things, and Rudy has them safe with him, but the story isn't over yet! We still have Kim's birthday…and the shocking PRE-ending. And of course the ending! So, please review! And I would just like to point out, that the 50 REVIEWS CHALLENGE IS OVER! YAY! We finally got to 50 reviews! OMG! You have no idea how much this means to us! I didn't think this would actually happen! Seriously, thank you guys so much, this means the world to us! It's so unbelievable to have 50 reviews! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT, LOVE YOU GUYS! And as promised there will be an EPILOGUE! YAY! So keep reading! Hey, think we can get to 75 reviews before the epilogue? LET'S SEE! Only 15 more reviews…think you all are up for a more challenging challenge? LOL. **

**Thank you guys! Chapter 9 is on the way! AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 3 **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N- Hi! Alyss Mei and Taylor here with the ninth chapter of Halloween Thief! Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed! Epilogue is ON! You have no idea how much this means to us, I can't believe we are up to more than 50 REVIEWS! It's amazing! Thank you all so much for the support! You all are the best! Keep reviewing…it means the world to Alyss Mei and me! ENJOY THE CHAPTER! **

**P.S-This chapter will be like part 1 of Kim's Birthday. It will be continued in another chapter…you'll see why later. But just know that the next chapter wills STILL BE Kim's birthday. **

_**PART ONE: KIM'S BIRTHDAY- **_

_**Kim's POV **_

_Beep. Beep. Beep. _I slammed my hand down against the alarm clock, which effectively shut off the beeping. Probably broke it too- I was strong, even if I _had _just been rudely awakened from my deep sleep.

I swung my legs out of my bed and stretched. Well. At least it was a Friday…wait! It was Friday! And that meant…_I'm officially FOURTEEN!_

All fatigue immediately disappeared, and I leaped out of bed and cheered exuberantly. It was actually my birthday! Instantly my mind flew to my party. I had been wishing for a really nice party, but of course, my parents _had _to fly out of town. Instantly my dreams had swept out the window. At least I had arranged for the guys to come over after school to celebrate. And that was definitely better than nothing!

I was about to stomp downstairs and get breakfast, but my phone promptly buzzed. As soon as I heard the annoying ringtone, I remembered the disgruntling text from last night. Chills crept over my skin, and the air seemed to grow colder- as if the A/C had just been cranked up.

I rubbed my hands over my arms and walked across my room to check my phone. _Please don't let it be another scary message, please don't…_I breathed a sigh of relief. It was from Jack. He wanted me to come over to the dojo to see something. As relieved as I was that it had nothing to do with the thief, I was slightly disappointed. Jack hadn't even mentioned my birthday.

I tried to brighten up. Maybe he would tell me at the dojo. But why was he over there at 7:00 AM?

I quickly changed into some clothes and pulled my hair into a ponytail. Grabbing my skateboard, I rushed out of the house. The dojo wasn't too far away, and I was there within 5 minutes. I frowned. The lights were off and the stores all looked deserted.

The chills quickly came back. Maybe it _was _the thief. Besides…wasn't Jack supposed to be here? I frowned and grabbed my skateboard, ready to use it as a club if anyone attacked. I crept towards the door and took a deep breath. Quickly, before I could talk myself out of it, I slammed open the door and turned on the lights, preparing to either see abandoned punching dummies laying on the mat, or the thief and whatever trick he had planned for me.

It must be because it's so early in the morning, because both my guesses were off by a long shot.

_SURPRISE!_

My lips curved into a smile as I took in the scene. Blue and white balloons floated over the mats and the walls were festively decorated with matching streamers. Glitter and ribbons covered the floors. Near the lockers was a table covered in food and a cake with the dojo's logo (which I'm pretty sure Eddie won't let anyone even touch), while presents were stacked in the corner. Floating over everything was a blue sign that said Sweet Sixteen? Someone had crossed off "sixteen" and written "fourteen" over it.

But most importantly, Jack, Milton, Eddie, Jerry and Rudy were standing in the midst of it all, their arms spread wide and smiles stretching across their faces.

"What's up with the sign?" I asked, smirking.

"Hey, they didn't have the right sign!" Jerry protested. "At least I crossed it off!"

I laughed. "I don't care…I love it so much! Thank you guys!"

"Don't thank us, thank Jack!" Milton exclaimed.

"He planned the whole thing!" Eddie chimed in. "He even paid extra for the cake! I can't wait until I…I mean, we…eat it!" I rolled my eyes.

"Happy Birthday Kim!" Rudy said. "Oh and uh…when my birthday rolls by, I expect you to TOP THAT PARTY!" Jack smacked him playfully.

"Why do you want good parties? You don't have that long to live for, you know," Milton replied. Rudy shot him a death glare.

"Time for presents!" Jerry shouted, running over to the stack of neatly (and some not so neatly) wrapped boxes.

He quickly grabbed the one on top. "This is from me and Eddie! Eddie and me? Eddie and I! Anyway, total swag!"

I walked over and picked up the present, sloppily covered in…"Tin foil?"

"Hey we couldn't find any wrapping paper!" Eddie defended. "It's the thought that counts!"

"I'm kidding!" I exclaimed, smiling. "You guys didn't have to get me presents!"

"But what's a birthday without them?" Jack replied. "Just open his present…hopefully it's a good one"

I eagerly tore off the foil and opened the white box to pull out…a white T-shirt. On the front was a picture of me and the guys and on the back was the Bobby Wasabi logo. I turned to Jerry, who shot me a goofy smile.

"So? So? What do you think?" Jerry asked. "Awesome right?"

"I love it," I replied. "It's very…swag."

Jerry's smile widened. I wrapped him in a giant, sisterly hug. Jerry was like an older brother to me. An annoying, less intelligent, obnoxious older brother. I gave Eddie a hug too. I honestly thought it was one of the best gifts I've ever received. It had value- and that was the purpose of a gift.

"Alright guys, we need to make this a little quick," Rudy said. "School starts in an hour!"

Milton rushed to get his gift. "Okay, this is from me and Rudy. I hope you love it, considering ours has actual wrapping paper on it! And look, there are little smiling ducks on it!"

Rudy hissed in my ear. "I think you'll like it. It was Milton's idea…I just paid for it." I laughed and tore open the gift.

"A Compilation of Poems by Robert Frost," I said, scanning the title.

Milton brightened up. "I knew you would like it! Robert Frost is the greatest poet of all time! You read his poems…you're in another world!"

"It was Milton's idea. I just paid for it." Rudy repeated.

"Milton," Jerry said slowly. "Your parents _did _give birth to a baby bird!"

I playfully smacked Jerry. "Milton, Rudy, I love it! And I will read it cover to cover!" I said smiling. "As soon as I find out who Robert Frost is!"

Milton shook his head, but I still gave them a hug. "Thank you guys."

"Happy birthday, Kim!" Milton replied.

"Okay," I said, examining the two amazing presents I got. "So…"

"What about mine!" Jack exclaimed. He approached me, his hands behind his back. I smiled. I've never felt this happy on my birthday. Ever. Even when my mom and dad were home, it was never this fun. Sure, I got loads of expensive presents, but today…it felt like I was really celebrating with family.

"Okay, so let's see it," I said.

'Before I do…" Jack began. "I want to say something."

Jerry, Eddie and Milton gave me knowing smiles. I shot them a look, and their smiles abruptly dropped off their faces. I glanced back at Jack, who looked pretty excited about something. It was funny…but sweet, too.

"Aw, he has to say something!" Jerry teased.

"Uh…well, happy birthday Kim!" Eddie said. "We're just going to uh, head off to school…we'll cut the cake after practice."

"Yeah!" Milton agreed. "We have that big chemistry test to take!"

"Wait- we have a chemistry test? Do we even take chemistry? I thought it was science…" Jerry replied, quickly following them out the door.

"Yeah, and uh, I have to do some bid-ness in my office…excuse the pun," Rudy replied, quickly darting into the back room.

So now it was just me and Jack alone in the abandoned dojo…fantastic.

"So what did you want to tell me?" I asked awkwardly.

"Well for one thing, happy birthday," He said. I smiled.

"Thanks," I laughed.

"And another thing," He said, walking over to me. "Close your eyes."

"Close my eyes?" I repeated.

"Do you want to know what it is or not?"

I rolled my eyes. "Jack…you're going to pull a trick on me…aren't you? I have ears like a hawk…and claws like one too."

He chuckled. "I won't do anything. Just trust me. C'mon, why would I pull anything on your birthday?"

"Okay," I sighed. I closed my eyes, and Jack walked behind me. I felt something cold drop around my neck and I instinctively flinched.

"It's okay," Jack reassured. Leave it to him to be the kind, chivalrous soldier. Can't he tell I don't need it? His hands were busy don't something behind my back…to be more specific, my neck. What was he _doing_?

"I think you'll really like it- it has sentimental value. Okay, you can open your eyes," he replied. My eyes flew open and I examined the thing he had placed around my neck.

It was a delicate necklace, with an elegant golden chain. Dangling from it was a beautifully crafted flower made from a pearl- my initials were engraved in the center.

"A necklace?" I asked, gently fingering the flower.

"Don't you like it?" Jack replied, worry jumping into his voice.

I turned around to face him. "I love it," I replied, softly.

"It looks beautiful on you," he complimented.

"Thank you so much," I said, pulling him into a hug. Something sent shivers over my body and butterflies grew in my stomach, but it was a good feeling. When I had hugged Jerry and Eddie…it was like embracing my brothers…but with Jack…it was something more. Much more.

"Happy birthday, Kim," he said, pulling away. I smiled at him. "We should get going for school. We don't want to be late. I still have to retake Ms. Francis's history test."

"Jack…we _all _need to retake it!" I said.

Jack grabbed his skateboard and headed out the door. I started to follow him, when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out. It was another unknown text message. My heart jumped. I began to call out for Jack, but my voice broke off.

_Happy Birthday Kim. We know Milton loves Frost…hope you like it too. It doesn't look like you will though, after you read "nothing gold can stay." _How did he know I got Robert Frost poems?

I was quaking with fear. I hurriedly grabbed the little poem book and flipped through the pages until I found the one titled "Nothing Gold Can Stay".

_Nothing Gold Can Stay_

_Nature's green is gold._

_Her hardest hue to hold._

_Her early leaf's a flower._

_But only so an hour._

_Then leaf subsides to leaf._

_So Eden sank to grief_

_So dawn goes down to day._

_Nothing Gold Can Stay._

Okay…why did the text want me to read this? All it's about is nature and things. What does that have to with anything? My phone rang again. _Oh great._

_Confused? Let me enlighten you. What does gold mean?_

I skimmed through the poem, before my eyes widened and my heart thudded in my chest.

Nothing _Good _Can Stay…_forever. _

_**Part Two: Jerry's POV **_

OH…health class was TORTURE!

I burst out of the room, and sprinted towards my locker…I had to get OUT of there. After seeing that video...I don't feel like eating the enchiladas and tres leches my mom made. Great timing too—we have lunch next.

"Jerry! JERRY!" Milton and Eddie ran towards me.

"Ready for lunch?" Milton asked.

I slammed my locker shut. "Ugh, no! After seeing that video, I'm not ready for anything, man."

"Come on let's go! I don't want to miss what Marge has for me today! She said she got something…sweet planned for me!" Eddie said winking at me.

"Okay, Romeo let's get going," Milton said, pushing Eddie. We walked towards the lunch room, before running- not literally- into Jack at his locker.

"What's up, man?" I asked him.

"Oh hey," he replied, pulling out his lunch box.

"You seem awfully nonchalant about something," Milton said, winking at me. Finally, I realized what he meant with all this winking!

Jack looked at us, puzzled. "What are you guys talking about this time?"

"Nothing," Eddie sing-songed. "Just…what did you get Kim?"

"A gift," he said, shutting his locker. Before we could argue, Kim walked up towards us, a smile plastered on her face.

"Jack thanks again for the necklace. Donna Tobin even complimented me on it," she replied, heading past us, towards the lunch room.

"Ah…" Milton began. "A necklace! That means…"

"You _love _her!" I exclaimed.

"I do not!" Jack exclaimed. "It was either the necklace, or a gift card. So I went with the necklace!

"You still LOVE her! It's so obvious! Just ask her out!" I continued my badgering.

"No!" Jack replied, a steely resolve crossing over his face. "I don't love her…I don't even like her! Kim's…just not my type, okay? She's bossy, moody, doesn't understand when I try to help her, thinks she can take care of herself, but obviously can't. Oh and she-"

"There's more?" a voice cried out, standing just to my right. We all turned around to see Kim, standing just a little ways away, tears filling up in her eyes.

_Whoops. _

We all turned to look at Jack, who was opening and closing his mouth, not knowing what to say. "Kim…I….I didn't mean…You're…"

"Save it!" Kim snapped. "I never want to see you again! You're the worst friend ever! I…I HATE you!" She tore the necklace off her neck and tossed it at his feet, before storming off. Jack shot us a worried glare.

"Kim, wait!" Jack screamed. He turned to us. "Thanks a lot guys." He ran after her, but I knew that it wasn't going to end well.

"Too far?" I asked Milton and Eddie, a sheepish smile creeping onto my face.

"You think?" they retorted.

I rolled my eyes. We decided to give Jack some back-up. He obviously didn't mean anything…I could tell he just wanted us to leave him alone. We ran after Jack, all confident…when we bumped into someone.

"Ow, watch where you're going, man!" I screamed.

"Ugh, people need to seriously look!" Milton said.

"Why would I want to look at you filthy beasts?" A voice replied. A voice…with a British accent! We looked up and saw…

"Marcus?" Milton said. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be in jail right now."

"Yeah!" Eddie defended.

"You haven't seen the last of me," Marcus eyed us coldly. "Mark my words."

"The last time we marked your words, it wasn't true." I said. "What makes you think we'll believe you now?"

"It was true…even though I changed it, Jack said the words." Marcus said. "When I mark my words, I never lie…especially now." He sprinted away, leaving us alone in the empty hallway…

**A/N- Oh. My. God. MARUCS HASN'T BEEN CAUGHT YET? WHAT THE FUDGE IS HE UP TO? And…Jack and Kim…FIGHTING? Is this the END of Kack? And…what's with the poem? The text message? OMG. Questions and questions…they never go! But, all these questions will be answered in the NEXT chapters! PLEASE CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW and review! :D Thank you guys SO MUCH for reading! **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei. **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N- Hi! Alyss Mei and I welcome YOU to the TENTH chapter of Halloween Thief ! Hopefully all your questions will be answered! And hopefully, you'll leave with a few questions in your head! This is probably one of the last chapters… two more chapters until the story is over I know, sad. But, anyway, let's get started shall we? PS-This is the shocking pre-ending! **

**ENJOY THE CHAPTER! Starting with part two of Kim's birthday! Oh, and a quick shout out to MusicFuhreak…just wanted to wish her a happy belated birthday, as she requested! So, happy birthday, and again, she was one of the people to help me come up with an idea for the story, so I just wanted to tell her thank you, and hope she had the best fifteenth birthday ever! **

**ONTO THE STORY! **

**OH BEFORE I START! Just some quick announcements! One is that I have helped a writer BubbleGumBoyLover77 with her story "You're A Cheater!" I had an idea for an ending, for those of you who have read it, and I made an alternative ending for her…that was how I would've ended it. And she was nice enough to let me share that. She's a great writer, and is improving a lot! So go on her story, it's updated, and see the Alternative Ending that I made for her story! It's got drama in it…heehee. Now onto the story!**

_**(Kim's POV)**_

It's official: Jack Anderson is the worst friend on earth.

I knew he was repeating my name over and over…but I just ran. One second, he gives me a beautiful necklace and I almost admit to myself that maybe just _maybe _I could have a crush on him after all. Then next he says that I'm some bossy, know-it-all? I can't believe I _almost _thought I _liked _Jack. I wanted to cry. I wanted to punch Jack in the face. But I decided to do neither. I didn't want to cry, because I already had two strikes, one with the whole Dylan incident, and one with the whole "Jack's going to jail" thing. Strike three…I'm out. In other words, I won't be known as the tough blonde. I'll be known as "What?_ She_ does karate?" And I didn't want to punch Jack in the face…he would definitely have a counterattack planned for me. It's not that I'm scared of Jack…but over the past week (it felt like a year) I learned that violence isn't _always _the answer.

"Kim! Wait, please!" I heard Jack begging. I decided to stop, and face him…let's see his excuse. And I thought today was going to be good…my mistake.

I was right by the girl's bathroom. We were pretty much in the end zone. If Jack made a move, I could bolt right in…for once I feel glad to see a girl's bathroom, if you know what I mean.

"Kim…I didn't mean any of that stuff." Jack said.

"Oh, so you just said it because you got nothing better to say? Because the Great Jack, Hero of all Heroes ran out of words of wisdom? Yeah, Jack… I forgive you," I replied coldly.

"Look, the guys were just accusing me of liking you, so I just said bad things about you so they'd think I wouldn't like you and leave me alone. That's all, I swear."

"Sure it is," I muttered under my breath.

"Kim, please you have to-"

"Just leave me alone, Jack." I said with water filling up in my eyes. _No, Kim, don't cry! Don't make a strike three! _"I thought you were my friend…I thought you'd always be there for me…especially on my birthday, when my parents aren't even around to wish me a happy birthday! Clearly, I was wrong. You talk to me like I mean the world to you, but really…you just think I'm a bossy, overconfident, know-it-all! You're just like any other guy, who never looks on the inside, but on the outside,"

"That's not true!" Jack defended. "That's not what I meant—"

"That's what you said." I interrupted. "And sometimes, even if you say you're sorry a million times…you're never going to take back those words. Bye Jack." I stormed inside the girl's bathroom, and locked myself in one of the bathroom stalls…and I had tears running down my cheeks.

_Thank god no one saw…that would've been strike three._

_**(Milton's POV)**_

_9:58…9:59…._

"Dude, its ten o'clock!" Jerry screamed. "Face it…Kim's not going to come to cut the cake."

I wanted to argue…but he was right. We've waited here for hours…she didn't show up for practice…she didn't show up after that….looks like the birthday girl isn't going to show up now.

I could see all the lights shutting down in the other shops at the mall…Falafel Phil's…Reptile World…Circus Burger. The only place that was open in this Strip Mall was the Bobby Wasabi Dojo.

"Ugh…we ruined her birthday." Eddie said. "Thanks a lot, Jack! This is YOUR entire fault!"

Jack gave us that "are you kidding me?" look. "Hey…if you haven't kept nagging me if I liked her or not, this wouldn't have happened! I only said those things so you guys could SHUT UP and LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"In my defense, I hardly said anything!" I said.

"Milton, nobody needs your stupid opinion!" Jerry said.

"Oh yeah?" I said getting up. "You want a piece of this?"

"BRING IT!" Jerry screamed. He did his war chant (or what I call screaming like a girl) as we were attacking eachother, when Jack broke us up.

"HEY!" He screamed throwing us both in opposite directions. "ENOUGH!"

"See, Jack, I'm the good one!" Eddie said. Jack just rolled his eyes.

"What's the matter what you two?" Jack scolded. "First, you ruin my friendship with Kim, and now you're fighting?" I started feeling guilty. Sure, I was still mad at Jerry for calling me stupid (clearly HE's the stupid one) but I felt bad for Jack. He looked like we wanted to punch the walls, like how the bad guys do in the movies. I realized all this time when we were indirectly trying to bring Jack and Kim together…we were indirectly tearing them apart.

"Jack," I began. "We're sorry. I guess I'm tired. I've never been awake this late!"

"Seriously?" Jerry said. "I'd picture you studying until two in the morning!"

"Well, see according to our health textbook, the average person must have approximately 8 hours of sleep, otherwise-"

"Milton!" Eddie said. "There is no need for health lessons! Please! After the last one at school, I don't even want to hear the word 'health' again."

"Milton, I'm sorry for trying to throw you down," Jerry said. I nodded to convey my forgiveness for Jerry. "And Jack, we're so sorry for pushing your buttons like that. All we wanted was for you guys to get together. But I guess love goes down its own road."

"Yeah, a _long _road," I heard Eddie mumble.

"Well, I forgive you guys," Jack said, looking at us with those same kind eyes as he did when he first met us. "I knew you weren't trying to do something like that."

"So," I said. "Are we all good then?"

"Yeah sure," Jack said, smiling, and patting my back. "We're good." We all smiled, relieved that Jack had forgiven us. Even though Jack had given us his usual smiles, I knew he still felt bad. I still felt guilty.

"Guys," Eddie said. "We should go. Kim's not going to come."

"Yeah, you're right." Jerry said. "Hopefully, Kim will—"

"Wait!" Jack said, looking at the windows.

"What?" I asked.

"I saw Kim over there, and she saw me! She's running away!" We all exchanged looks, but knew what we all planned to say.

"GET HER!"

_**(Kim's POV) **_

_Stop following me…please stop following me. _

I ended up sprinting to my house, because of the fact that Jack and the rest were following me. I was kind of annoyed, but I had also seen it coming, considering I stood them up. Well, I didn't think they were going to wait until ten o'clock! Knowing Jerry, he would've wanted to get out of there, and go flirt with some girls. And knowing Milton, his bedtime was eight thirty, and knowing Eddie…he needs to eat something…then again, he probably ate the cake.

I finally approached my house, and quickly jabbed the keys in the lock, and heard a snap. I ran inside, and slammed the door shut. Maybe I've lost them. Well, whatever it is, I had to call _them. _And I don't mean the guys. I know it's not the best thing, but with everything that happened today with me and Jack, I had no other choice. I need some hopeful happiness.

I dialed in the numbers on the telephone. Hopefully, London's awake and hopefully they don't have a meeting. Thankfully, the voice answered.

"Hello?" I heard the other end answer.

"Mom?" I gulped.

"Ugh, what do you want? Is it an emergency? I'm going to a meeting!" She yelled.

I gulped harder. "You don't remember do you?"

"Remember what? Kimberly, don't play games with me! Look, if you miss us that much, don't worry honey we're coming back on…Monday."

"But—"

"I'm handing the phone to your father!" She said. "Bye sweetheart!" There was a pause until I heard my dad's voice. "Kim, what's up cupcake?"

"What's up cupcake?" I echoed in frustration. "Do you not even know what today is?"

"Oh yeah, I know! It's Friday, Friday!" He said, singing the song by Rebecca Black. Normally, I would've laughed at the joke, since my dad always makes jokes. But today, I didn't want to. It was hard to believe that my own parents forgot my birthday as well. So, this just concludes….I'm not important to anyone in the world. I'm alone.

"Yeah, that's it," I said softly, biting my lip.

"Haha, see I know how to make you happy! But seriously pumpkin, don't call us out of the blue. We'll call you. We're kind of busy now, so call only if it's an emergency."

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Okay, well I got to go, so stop calling us, and uh yeah. Bye." He hung up. I put the phone down. A mix of emotions was rising inside of me. Anger. Sadness. Frustration. Loneliness. I could feel my face burning, as tears ran down my cheeks.

_Kim, you just keep crying and crying! _

But I can't take it anymore. I had to. Today was officially the worst birthday ever. And I thought just this morning that today was going to be a good day. Big mistake.

I ran out of the house, and slammed the door shut from behind me. I wanted to get my mind off of things…maybe getting a little late night workout _alone _will help. After all, I overheard the guys saying that they were tired and was leaving anyway. However, when I turn around, those thoughts drain away from my head. Why?

Because I see all the guys facing me with their arms folded across their chests.

"Kim? Are you okay?" I heard Jack say.

I didn't respond. More tears flew down my cheeks. But after running away from them, I could only conclude one thing.

_Strike three and I'm out. _

_**(Jack's POV) **_

Okay, seriously I'm tired of chasing Kim around. I may be a karate expert, but I'm not on the cross country team!

Kim was sprinting faster than a cheetah. Clearly, she didn't want to talk us. But I had to talk to her. I wish I never even said that. The words I said was only to get Milton, Jerry and Eddie off my back. Maybe next time they accuse me (which I'm sure they won't, but if they do, I'll slap them) I'll just…admit it. I don't know, maybe I do like Kim. Maybe I do have a crush on her. But I know one thing is for sure. I know for a fact, that boyfriend or not, I still care about her. Just like how I care about all my other friends.

"Kim, please stop running!" Milton panted. But all she did was the opposite. She ran faster towards…the dojo. Luckily, I managed to get closer and closer to her. She quickly opened the doors of the dojo, and I followed her inside, and caught her arm.

"Jack, leave me alone, please!" She cried. I noticed her eyes were bloodshot from tears.

"Kim, what happened?" I asked her. "You can tell me!"

"I_ can_ tell you, but the thing is… I DON'T WANT TO!" She snapped.

"Kim please, you-"

I couldn't finish my sentence. Why? Kim flipped me over, and I landed flat on my back.

_Ow!_

"There's your answer," She said. I saw her run into the girl's bathroom, and lock the door. I slowly got up, with pain still stinging on my back. Well, _someone_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. God, why won't she listen to me? She won't even listen to a word I said. But thinking further, maybe her tears weren't all because of me. Maybe, something happened. Something bad. Well, this has just been a fruity fourteenth birthday for Kim, now hasn't it?

I finally saw the guys come in, with beads of sweat on their temples, and clutching the poles, as if they just ran a marathon.

"Hey, where's Kim?" Jerry panted, looking around. I pointed towards the girl's bathroom. They all nodded in understanding.

"Wow…she must be really mad at us." Milton said, the guys facing me with disappointment.

"We totally ruined her birthday. I feel awful." Eddie said.

"You and me both, Eddie." I said. "But, I don't think that's the whole reason why she's upset. It's not all because of us."

"Maybe it's her time of the month!" Jerry said. We gave him a "dude-shut-up!" look, because I'm pretty sure Kim could hear what we were saying. But then again…the bathroom is soundproof.

"I mean, her time of the month to PARTY!" Jerry said. We just put our heads in our hands. Jerry's a good friend and all but…yeah.

"Oh, I don't think she'll be partying ever again!" We heard a voice. However, it wasn't any of our voices. I could tell because for one thing…none of us have British accents. We turned around and saw Marcus standing there in a…Black Dragon karate uniform.

"Marcus, get out of here! Nobody wants you here!" Milton said, trying to shoo him off.

"Shut up, Officer Nerdy." Marcus said, sneering.

"What do you want?" I said. "And why are you wearing a Black Dragon uniform?"

"Well clearly, Kim hasn't been checking her phone. I told her that I would be arriving once all the stores are closed. Oh, and have I mentioned? I'm part of the Black Dragons…we've all been clubbed up on this idea. Even Arthur's a part of the Black Dragons…we're unstoppable."

"There's nothing unstoppable about you idiots!" Jerry said.

But my eyes widened. "That was YOU! You sent Kim those stalker text messages and phone calls!"

"I wouldn't have to text her, if she backed away when I called her the first time. You remember, Jack? The day you taught your girlfriend to skateboard."

I could feel my face turning red. "Okay, first off, Kim's not my girlfriend! And second, you were watching us? I thought you were with Milton, Jerry and Eddie, and you showing them your karate moves."

"Yeah, and then he had a seizure and left, remember?" Jerry told me.

"You fool!" Marcus said. "I didn't have a seizure! That was my excuse so I could go spy on Jack and Kim. They should have stopped their little search party after my scary phone call. But no, they decided to be heroes for once! Look where that got them."

Anger was rising inside of me. "Well, why are you here? You know, we have our cellphones in our pockets, we can call the police right now…and your life will be over."

"I don't think you'd want to do that." Marcus said coming closer to me. I saw a few people from behind him emerging from the darkness, with Black Dragon uniforms.

"Jack…" Milton nudged me. "Don't anger the ghost."

"And why is that?" I threatened.

"I-oh, I'm sorry, we-think we can explain this." And with a sly smile, he shot his hand in my face…until I caught his fist.

"I don't think so," I said, and shot a kick in his direction. The rest of the Black Dragons came in and started attacking me…well they only attempted. I saw Milton, Jerry and Eddie trying to defend me but frankly, they weren't really needed. As the four Black Dragon members aimed punches at me from all sides I ducked, and made a spin kick causing them to trip over their legs. I did an extra back flip and smacked their heads. Yep, they were unconscious. I walked over to Milton, Jerry and Eddie to see if they were okay.

"Whoa, Jack, that was amazing man!" Jerry said giving me the bro-handshake thing. I smiled.

"Well now let's call the police before-"

"Jack watch out!" Milton screamed.

Before I could even register what Milton was talking about, I found my answer. Pain shot through my back, and I fell to the ground. I turned around in pain, and saw Marcus giving me an evil smile.

"Hey, British Ghost! Who do you think you are to kick JACK? Now it's personal!" Eddie said. He shot his arm in Marcus's direction, but Marcus caught it.

"Over my dead body," He said, and flipped him over. I got up clutching my back, in anger. It was still hurting like crazy, but now he's hurting others. NOT COOL.

Milton and Jerry charged for Marcus (since the other guys were down), but he kicked them both, and they fell to the ground.

"Christmas Nuts!" Milton said, clutching his stomach in pain.

"Oh, beating you guys up is easier than taking candy from pasty babies." Marcus said shaking his head.

I got up, and eyed him. "Just know we have cellphones, Marcus."

Marcus chuckled. "Alright guys, get up! The act is over! We did the crime, so we must do the time!" All the Black Dragon members grunted and woke up, limping towards the door. However, the way Marcus said it; I had a feeling that he was faking it.

"Yeah, you better do your time!" Jerry said walking towards us, with Milton and Eddie.

"Well, I'll do my time for the crime." Marcus said. "But looks like…it'll be the end of all of your times."

We all exchanged looks. "What?" I asked. "Face it Marcus, when we call that police officer…your life will be over."

"True," Marcus said, backing away from us and towards the door. "But with that explosive attached onto the ceiling, my life won't be the only one that's over."

My heart stopped. Did he just say… an explosive? My eyes widened, and I took a step back in horror and shock, wondering if I even heard the right words, that possibly my ears were tricking me.

"Excuse me?" I said, that being my only reaction.

"I have three words for you lot. Two minutes." He said, smiling. "Come on, my fellow dojo members!" With that, Marcus and the Black Dragon guys ran out and locked the doors of our dojo from the outside. We were all breathing heavily. No, there couldn't be a bomb. No, no, no. Two minutes….until….

"That's two words!" Milton screamed. We all gave him a death glare.

"This is NO TIME FOR THAT!" Eddie shrieked.

"What are we going to do?" Jerry screamed. I held on to the doorknob, and tried twisting it vigorously, but to no luck…it's locked. We can't open it.

"First things first!" I yelled. "Someone get the certificates and awards! See if Rudy has a pin or something in his office! GO!" Jerry and Eddie ran towards the office. Milton and I were banging the door to see if anyone was outside, so they could let us out. Unfortunately, nothing. Well who would shop at ten thirty?

"_30 seconds until explosion." _We heard an automatic voice coming from the ceiling. We darted our eyes frantically towards the office, and we saw Jerry and Eddie bursting out with a satchel in one hand, and thankfully a pin in the other.

"Rudy kept all his things in this bag! Jack, hold on to it!" Eddie threw it over to me and I put it on my shoulder.

"Jerry hand me the pin! QUICK!" Jerry gave me the pin, and I quickly twisted it in the key hole. My heart was racing, and my palms were sweating so much, I was afraid it was going to slip out. At first, I was afraid it wasn't going to work.

"Did it open?" Jerry asked.

"What do you think?" I asked frantically. "It didn't…" But my voice trailed off. Why?

I heard it. I heard the snap.

We all exchanged looks of joy. "YES!" We screamed.

"LET'S GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!" Milton screamed. Jerry, Eddie and Milton ran, screaming at the top of their lungs, away from the dojo. I started heading out, but I realized, I forgot something important. Probably, the most important part of my life. And no it's not the bag… I still have it on my shoulder.

_Kim. _

I ran inside, and hastily twisted the pin in the knob of the girl's bathroom. I heard the snap quicker, and busted inside, to see Kim sitting on the floor, looking at me with her jaw dropped.

"Perverted much?" Kim snapped, wiping tears from her puffed eyes.

I grabbed her hand, and started running out. "Kim, before you flip me over, the only reason why I opened the door to the girl's bathroom was because-"

"_10 seconds until explosion." _I heard the automatic voice. Kim looked at me, with her eyes widened. We sprinted out of the dojo, hand in hand.

"Jack, what's going on?" Kim screamed. "Where can we go? Even though we're out of the dojo, we'll still get blown up!"

My eyes darted around the strip mall, and I noticed there was a lake near the park that was only a couple of feet away.

"Come on!" I screamed. We ran to the lake, and I took off my jacket, and threw the bag near the bushes.

Unfortunately we heard the automatic voice booming throughout the mall.

"_Explosion in five…" _

"Kim, we need to jump in the lake!"

"_Four…"_

"What?"

"_Three…" _

"It'll be the only place that we'll be safe, and not barbecued or hit in the head by flames!"

"_Two…" _

"Okay…I trust you," Kim said gripping my hand tighter.

"_One…" _

"JUMP!" I screamed, as we splashed into the lake. Unfortunately, as we jumped into the freezing water, I heard a sound that I thought I'd never live to hear.

_BOOM. _

**A/N- THE BIGGEST CLIFFHANGER IN THE WHOLE FANFICTION! Okay, let's talk. So, does this mean Kim forgives Jack? I mean, the boy saved her life! Speaking of which…..A BOMB? Told you this was a REALLY SHOCKING pre-ending! HOW COULD MARCUS PUT A BOMB? OMG! That's plain cold! And now….THE DOJO IS IN PIECES! OH NO! WHAT WILL HAPPEN? Well you have to READ TO FIND OUT! Two more chapters until the story are over and of course our epilogue, thanks to the amazing reviews! PLEASE REVIEW! Let's see if we can get to…hmm…100 by the end of the fanfiction? Is that a challenge? O.o Loll! So, hope you like this chapter, or if you don't, don't worry your questions will be answered in the next chapter…I know I always say this! But, since the story is wrapping up, you probably won't have any more questions! We won't let that happen…nor will we? Ha! THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING! **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N- Hey Halloween Thief Lovers! Haha, Alyss Mei and I are here, with the ELEVENTH chapter of Halloween Thief! Wow, I've never co-written or written stories this long! Well, here is the "what happens next" to the bomb! OMG, are you excited? Well, whatever you're feeling, hope you enjoy this chapter! :D**

**_Kim's POV _**

_I…can't…breathe. _

I could feel my clothes and hair absorb the freezing cold water. I couldn't take this. As I jumped in the water, I knew I would have hypothermia. You know the feeling you get when you first go in the pool? Cold right? Well when you jump into a lake, the chillness level is much worse. It's like dipping into the arctic waters. Jack and I started swimming up to surface…we've been in the water for 30 seconds, and counting. I couldn't hold my breath any longer…unlike the many talents I have, swimming isn't one of them. As we rose to surface, I inhaled deeply for oxygen. Sweet, sweet air. I saw Jack next to me, and we started swimming to land. He was helping me get on, because again…not a good swimmer.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked, as I climbed onto the ground, coughing up water, and embracing myself for warmth. My teeth were chattering, and I could feel myself vibrating crazily. I've never felt this cold in my life.

"N-n-no…I'm f-f-freezing to d-death…" I said trying to cover my damp cardigan for warmth…but I knew it wasn't helping. I looked over at Jack, and he was as wet as me, with his brown hair damp like a wet mop on his head, and his t-shirt soaked. As for me, my pin-straight blonde hair is now curly, wet blonde hair, with my hair and clothes dripping water everywhere.

"One second," He said. He grabbed the jacket that he took off before we jumped in the lake, and wrapped it around me. This time, I didn't argue with it, because…I needed it.

"H-how are you not c-c-cold?" I asked him.

"I am," He said. "But not as cold as you."

"W-was that an in-insult?" I teased. He laughed and adjusted his jacket on my shoulder. I gave him a grateful smile. I knew it wasn't really the time for jokes, but I was trying to get my mind off of what just happened in the past…thirty seconds. I'm still as confused as to what was happening, and why there was an actual explosive in the dojo, and who could've put that there. I could've sworn I didn't hear anything from the bathroom. All I heard was banging, but I was assuming at the time, that it was just Milton getting beaten again by…well…all of the other guys. Well, it's not my fault that the bathroom is soundproof! Anyway, I don't understand anything that took place. The only thing I do understand is Jack saving my life, and the fact that our beloved dojo is…gone.

"This hasn't been the best birthday for you, hasn't it?" He asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Well, my b-best friend said mean things about m-me, I get weird t-text messages from some stalker I _still_ d-don't know who, my p-parents completely forgot that t-t-today was my b-b-birthday, and our d-dojo is in pieces. You t-tell me?" I stuttered. Even with Jack's warm sweater, I knew my lips were icy blue, and I feel so dizzy, I can barely speak. I could tell I was indeed having hypothermia.

He chuckled. "Kim, I don't know if you still believe me or not… but I'm sorry for what I said. I swear to you, I didn't mean it. If anything you're the opposite of what I said. You're funny…smart….and you're a good friend. I wasn't there for you today. So, I'm sorry." Normally, I would've argued but this time I didn't. In fact, I didn't say anything. I threw my arms around him, and I could tell he almost fell back when I did.

"Jack, you saved my life…how can I not forgive you?" I said squeezing him tightly. For some reason, even with the jacket slipping from my shoulders, I still felt warm.

"I wouldn't forget about you…and see you…explode," He said. I laughed but was almost crying at the same time. In a matter of ten seconds, if he hadn't come for me, or even unlocked the door (which I thought was perverted at first) I would've died. I would've died along with the dojo. But he came for me. Even when I avoided him throughout the day. I let go, and met his eyes, who were deep brown with affection. Now I know, that he really does care…that he was a good friend. What I said to him was wrong. I don't hate him. I never will. And Jack isn't the worst friend ever. He's the best friend anyone could ever have. I…I…

_Say it Kim! SAY IT!_

I like him.

"Kim…just know no matter what happens, I'll _always _be there for you," He said, as our eyes locked. I smiled. And I did something that I'd never thought I'd really do.

I kissed him. I actually kissed Jack…and I liked it. As I pulled away, I saw that Jack was smiling. And, so was I.

"W-what?" I laughed.

"You so had a crush on me." He said putting the sweater back on my shoulders, as it had slipped off.

"Hey, c-can't a girl just casually k-k-kiss his g-guy-friend?" I said, smacking him on the head, still stuttering from the chillness. And honestly, I didn't kiss him because I thought he was hot or anything (which he isn't) but I kissed him, as a thank-you-for-saving-my-life kind of thing.

I kissed him because I was thanking him… right?

"No need to smack my head for that, Kim," Jack said, smiling.

"Well, that w-was just my way of s-saying 'thank you,'" I said, smiling. I decided to change the subject. "So, c-can you explain m-me why there w-was a b-bomb attached to the d-dojo in the f-f-first place?"

Jack slowly got up, and reached out a hand. "I think I should explain that on the way home."

"S-so, you're going to knock on your p-parent's door and t-tell them "Hey, m-mom my d-dojo just exploded, b-but no b-biggie…I'm fine!"

He laughed. "Even when you have hypothermia, you still deny your love for me, and have that sarcastic tongue of yours." He said. "Well we have no other choice now, do we? My mom's going to freak out if I'm not home. It's eleven at night. I'll explain on the way home."

"B-but I need to g-get to _my _home," I said, still on the ground and snuggling up Jack's sweater.

"Kim, your parents aren't home, and you need to be looked after by my mom. She's a doctor; she knows how to deal with hypothermia. And we could use some dry clothes."

"And that is w-why I n-need to get to _my _h-house." I repeated.

"Okay, tell you what. We'll stop by your house, you get your things, but you're coming to my house, to stay overnight. My mom needs to watch you…having hypothermia isn't a simple thing."

"I d-don't have h-hypothermia," I lied.

"Kim… you're stuttering at almost every word you say, your skin is blue, and you look like you're about to pass out…looks like I'm going to have carry you to my house."

It was true…I was feeling light-headed. I saw his hand, and it was still reached out for me to hold. "F-fine." I said. I took his warm hand and rose up…apparently; I was more light-headed than I thought I was. Jack's hand must have been under a lot of pressure, considering the amount of support I put into it. I could tell that I wasn't stable. And Jack seemed to know that.

"What did I tell you, Kimmy?" He smirked.

"If I had the energy, I would've punched you so hard." I retorted.

"Hey, you can't talk to your _boyfriend _like that," He said.

"Jack…for the last time that was a friend kiss, okay?" I said.

"Oh, so it's okay if I do this?" He gave me a devilish smile, and lifted my legs and carried me. I laughed...even though his clothes were wet; I gently rested my head on his chest. And for some reason, I didn't argue and scream "put me down!" I started to think about what he said before. Was I his really his girlfriend? I just gave him a kiss! Well maybe, I did do it because I did like him. Maybe I did have a crush on him. But I should first pull myself back into normal, before I think about my love life. I need to work out this whole hypothermia thing and soak in what Jack's about to tell me. The question I've been asking myself repeatedly in my head, ever since I ran out of the dojo with Jack (which was frankly only a couple of minutes ago).

Why is our dojo blown up?

**_Jack's POV_**

As soon as I told Kim the story of our scary encounter with Marcus…it looked like she was traumatized…like I was just carrying a body in my hands…with the eyes wide open. Except, she was alive…hopefully.

"W-wait…"Kim said, deep in thought. I was happy that she said something…I was afraid if…you know what never mind.

"What?" I asked.

"So, all those t-t-text messages….and that w-weird phone c-call we got-"

"On Monday." I finished.

"It seemed l-like ages ago," Kim said. I nodded in agreement. It did. It felt like years since I taught Kim how to skateboard. But it's only been a couple of days. "Anyways…so they were all from M-Marcus?"

"I know…I couldn't believe it either."

"But he seemed so n-nice…well until I r-realized that he c-caused my amnesia at j-just the age of n-nine." She said sadly. She looked like she was recollecting all those bad memories, because her skin was even paler than her pale skin from the hypothermia. Okay, we need to get to my house fast…luckily we already got Kim's clothes. But as I looked at her face…I was worried.

"Kim, are you okay?" I asked.

"No…this is all h-happening so f-fast." She said helplessly. "I can't k-keep up with all these t-twists, and s-surprises…and l-loss." She rested her head on my chest again.

"Hey…that's life." I said. "You think I'm fine with all these surprises?"

She looked up at me. "Well…you seem so c-c-calm about it. I m-mean, sure you have your w-worries, but you're t-taking things more…p-p-positively than I am."

"Because I'm moving on…and not going back. I keep moving forward." I said. She gave me an intuitive look.

"J-jack?" She asked me.

"Yeah?"

"You never t-told me about that d-dream you h-had about your g-granddad when you p-passed out…w-what happened?"

I completely forgot about that. I figured…well…this wasn't how I envisioned telling Kim about this…walking to my house, with her in my arms in the night sky, after our dojo got blown up. But, I had to tell her eventually. Might as well tell her now.

"Well, let's just say you're not the only one who's lost loved ones." I began. Kim looked up at me with sympathy.

"Your g-granddad…?" Kim's voice trailed off.

"Yeah," I said softly. "He died from cancer last month. It was hard for my entire family. Even Bobby Wasabi. That's why I was absent from school for a week."

"Okay, f-first of all Jack, I n-need you to let me d-down." She said.

I looked down at her. "Why? You'll just fall…you're still sick."

"I seriously d-don't care." She said. "You've b-been holding me way too l-long, and I w-want to give you advice the r-right way…not when you're c-carrying me…it just m-makes me look w-weaker. Kim Crawford never w-wants to look w-weak. She's strong."

"You know it's creepy to address yourself in a third person?" I teased.

She smacked my head. "J-just let me down." Reluctantly, I put her down, but still held on to her hand…not because we were now possible boyfriend and girlfriend, but because she could fall.

Then my mind went on when she kissed me. She claims it was a thank you gift, but for some reason…I actually liked it. I liked it when Kim kissed me. Looks like she's not the only one who has a crush in mind. But why did she kiss me? Why didn't she just say thank you, or just stop with the hug? Why did she leave me another thing to think about? All these questions whirled around in my head.

"J-jack," She said looking at me right in the eye. "Why didn't you t-t-tell me? It w-was obviously a hard t-time for you…b-but I realized if you t-tell someone, you'll feel t-ten times b-better."

"I don't know," I admitted. "If I told you guys, it would've been a big deal-"

"B-because it _is_ a big d-deal." She stuttered, but with confidence still in her voice. "Your gr-grandfather, the guy who t-taught you karate, the guy who t-technically helped you save that d-dojo, is gone. That's s-something you can't just h-hide to yourself."

"But Kim, look at our dojo now? You call that saving?" I said, my words coming out harsher than I meant.

"Jack, that w-was out of your h-hands." She said. "It was s-something evens the Great Jack Anderson c-couldn't d-do." She smiled. I put my arm around her, no longer gripping her hand.

"You know how to make someone feel better, you know that?" I said.

"It's w-what I do," She shrugged. "But…I'm s-sorry for your loss. L-looks like I'm not alone then. We b-both have our s-sob stories."

"And now, we both have a new one. The story of The Explosion of the Bobby Wasabi Martial Arts Academy….by Jack Anderson. No, literally, Jack Anderson caused the explosion."

She chuckled. "J-jack, its n-not your fault…hey you s-saved my life…but w-what Marcus d-did was out of your h-hands. It's okay. You d-did what you c-could. Now, all we h-have to do is j-just…put p-positive thoughts out th-there in the w-world…and hopefully we c-can get our d-dojo back."

I gave her a smile, and realized we made it to our house. Oh no, now there's another problem to deal with. My mom. I hesitantly ringed the doorbell. Kim and I heard a muffled noise of footsteps growing louder and louder, and…I think a yelp of relief. That must have been my mom. The door opened, revealing my mom with bloodshot eyes and dry tears still on her face. When she saw me and Kim, her eyes widened.

"Oh my goodness, Jack! Kim! You're both okay!" She swept me and Kim in her arms, and was almost jumping for joy. "I thought I lost you like I lost your dad!"

"Mom!" I screamed. "That's enough, thank you!"

She finally let go, but looked at the both of us, wet and cold. "Why are you both wet?"

Kim and I exchanged looks, and she clutched my now wet sweater tighter into her body, and looking down.

"It's a long story," I said, taking Kim inside.

"Oh, you poor things!" My mom squealed, holding Kim's arms.

"I'm fine," I said. "Kim looks likes she has hypothermia…I was thinking we could keep her overnight."

"Oh, I'm more than fine with that," My mom said, looking at Kim in pity. "But is it okay with her parents?"

"Yeah, I d-don't think they w-would c-care." Kim said quickly but quietly. My mom gave her a strange look. Normally girl's parents wouldn't let them sleep at a guy's house. But she still kept a caring look on.

"Alright, sweetie why don't we first run you a nice hot bath, and then you can go lie down in our extra room over there…call me and I'll be right over there, okay sweetie?"

"Th-thank you, M-Mrs. Anderson," Kim said, forcing a kind smile on her face. I gave Kim the bag with the dry clothes in it. She went into the bathroom to take her shower, leaving me and my mom alone. I looked into my mom's eyes and for the first time, I couldn't read them. Was she mad at me? Did she want to cry? Was she relieved? I couldn't tell.

"Jack, honey go take a nice hot bath," She said ushering me into the other bathroom. "I don't want another hypothermia patient."

That's it? That's all? No "Jack Anderson I'm so disappointed in you!"? I took dry clothes from my closet and took a shower, utterly confused, and worried about Kim. I hope she's doing okay. However, after we all see the dojo, I don't think any of us will be okay.

**_Kim's POV_**

After taking a hot bath and changing into dry clothes, thankfully I stopped stuttering. I did feel a lot warmer than I did before, but I still felt like snuggling up in a blanket. I walked into Jack's living room, and could smell the scent of cocoa. I looked at the clock, and it was near midnight. But I didn't feel sleepy. All I could concentrate on was the delicious scent coming from the kitchen. Mrs. Anderson came out with a cup in her hands and gave me a warm smile.

"Hey how are you feeling, Kim?" She asked me, handing me the mug of hot chocolate. I sipped it…man this was good. The marshmallows melted on my tongue, and I was feeling better by the minute.

"I'm feeling a lot better, thank you," I said giving her a reassuring smile.

"Okay, Jack's still showering I think, so after hot cocoa why don't I get you to bed and I'll check you out. You seem to look a lot better…your lips aren't blue and your skin seems to be a lot less pale. But I'm just going to check on you to be sure."

"Okay, thank you so much Mrs. Anderson." I said sipping on my milk. She gave me a caring pat on the shoulder.

"No problem, sweetie." She said, giving me a smile. Jack's mom is just as nice as him. I finished drinking the last of the hot milk, and walked to what looked like a guest bedroom. I got under the covers, and almost drifted off to sleep, when I heard a knock on the door. I quickly got up, thinking that it was Jack's mom, when it was actually…

"Jack?" I called, getting up from the comfy pillows. "What are you doing here?"

He gave me a smile and walked into the room and took a seat on the bed. "Well, believe it or not Kim, I actually live here!" I gave him a playful shove.

"Very funny, Jack," I said.

"I was just checking on you…I was worried." He said feeling my forehead. "You're burning up, Kim, you must be sick."

"Hey, I'm not…." But my voice trailed off, as my nose was tickling…and I sneezed. Jack gave me a look.

"Okay, maybe I am sick," I said, wiping my nose.

"You better not kiss me with that chest cold." He said. I shoved him.

"For the last time, we are not going to be dating, okay? God, a girl gives one kiss and ultimately leads to love and relationships."

"Even after kissing me, you still can't admit your feelings for me? Wow, Kim just wow." He said shaking his head.

"Jack, why does the girl always have to have the feelings for the guy? What if you have a crush on me?" I was smiling, hoping to convey that this conversation isn't "serious" but that we're just joking around with eachother.

"Maybe I do," He said facing me. My smile faded away. Did Jack just admit that…he liked me?

"You do?" I asked him.

"Let's just say after saving your apple on the first day I met you I kind of did think you were…kind of….nice," He said, with a shy smile.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who has a hard time expressing their feelings!" I said laughing.

"So you _do _have feelings for me!" Jack said, pointing at me.

"Hey, so do you!" I said, coughing a little bit.

"Well one thing I know for sure is that the reason why I'm so overprotective of you is because I care about you. That is something I can admit."

"I know you care." I said, now sitting closer to him than before. "Maybe when I kissed you…it wasn't just because of the fact I wanted to say 'thanks for saving my life.'"

"Well, since we're confessing…" He sat even closer to me. "I liked it."

"You did?" I breathed.

He nodded. I smiled. I found myself staring into his eyes for a long time. And then…Jack starts leaning in…_oh my god, he's about to kiss me. Kim, should you back away? Should you enjoy it? Think fast Kim…think— _

"Alright Kim, let's see if…Jack what are you doing?" I hear a voice. I quickly back away from Jack, and see Mrs. Anderson standing at the door, confused.

"Uh…I…he…" I attempted.

"I was just checking to see if she had a fever." Jack said. "And she's burning up. She probably has a chest cold."

"Oh…well Jack, you can go to your room now, I'll just give Kim her free doctor's advice."

Jack got up and gave me a wave. "See you in the morning. Hope you get better."

I gave him a wave and smiled. "Bye." He rushed out of the room…I saw that his cheeks were red, flushed with embarrassment. I could feel my cheeks burning up as well. But it's probably from the fever.

"Alright Kim, I'm just going to check your temperature." She stuck a thermometer in my mouth, and in a matter of seconds the thermometer beeped. Usually, that's not good. Jack's mom took it out of my lips and looked at it. Her eyes widened.

"Ooh, you have a 104 temperature…that's not good. It's effect from swimming in cold water. What were you guys doing?"

"It's a really long story…I think Jack would do a good job of explaining." I said guiltily.

"I'll ask him. But for now, looks like your symptoms of hypothermia have worn off, but you have high fever…maybe if I just give you some medicine, you should be fine by morning. Here take this." She handed me a pill, and gave me some water to help swallow it. I took the pill and slurped down the water.

"Now, it'll make you pretty drowsy, just a heads up." She said.

"So, will I be better by morning?" I asked resting my head on the pillow.

"Sweetie, you should be fine by tomorrow…I guarantee that." She gave a smile.

"Thanks for everything, Mrs. Anderson. It means a lot." I said. She gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"Kim, you're practically family to me…just remember you can tell me anything. Good night." She left the room, and flicked the light switch off. For once, I didn't feel alone. Even though I did love my parents, I felt that Jack's mom took more importance to me for one little thing, than my parents ever did their whole life. Jack' mom was just like Jack. Nice…caring…loyal…trustworthy. I almost felt glad to have them as a part of my life. Slowly, with the drowsiness of the medicine I drifted off to sleep…but even though the medicine was strong, I still twisted and turned in the bed, feared of the result of the dojo. How's it going to look like? How is Rudy going to react? Then I realized something…something I didn't realize from all the shock and confusion.

The Bobby Wasabi Martial Arts Academy is…gone. For good.

**A/N- Whoa! Can you believe what's been happening? It's even a shock to Jack and Kim! Speaking of which….Kim kissed Jack? AND SHE'S STILL IN DENIAL! Or is she? And does Jack feel the same way? Hmm….and Kim having hypothermia! Also…did Jack forget something? Something by the lake? What's going to happen to it? Stay tuned for the twelfth chapter! REVIEW! Thanks SO MUCH!**

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei. **


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N- Hey guys! Alyss Mei and I are back with the LAST chapter of HALLOWEEN THIEF! OMG! 12 chapters…huh, how about that? Heehee anyway, hopes you guys love the ending, and hope you all love this chapter! Thank you all for the amazing reviews! I read each and every one of them, and it means the world to both of us that you guys just take the time to read our stories, so thank you guys so much, and hope you like the FINAL chapter of Halloween Thief! **

_**Jerry's POV (since I didn't do it last chapter)**_

Oh…rise and shine Jerry….rise and shine. I woke up groggily from my bed…man last night was crazy…what's going to happen to our dojo? Is it…done for? I haven't heard from Jack and Kim. Wait….KIM!

Oh my flipping god, we forgot about her! She was in the bathroom…we just went for ourselves. We forgot about Kim! That means….she's dead. Oh no…wait Jerry don't panic, maybe she got out. Maybe, she already escaped or something. I grabbed my phone from my nightstand, and dialed in Kim's number. No answer. Oh, great. She's not dead, is she? She can't be. Kim can't be dead. I could feel myself hyperventilating. Kim's not my girlfriend or anything (EW!) but she is my friend. I decided to call Eddie. Luckily, he picked up.

"It's Eddie, talk to me," I heard his voice.

"Eddie! It's me, Jerry!" I shrieked.

"Oh, hey, what up man?" He said, with a little more concern in his voice.

"Eddie…yesterday when we found out the dojo was going to explode, we forgot about Kim!"

"WHAT?" He screamed. So, I'm not the only one. "Okay, don't panic. Call Jack. Maybe he knows."

"Okay…after all he didn't run with us. Did he?"

"Hey, we couldn't hear or see anything because of Milton screaming like a girl."

I chuckled. "That was mostly me. You know, my Columbian War Chant," I admitted. "Alright, I'm going to go call Jack. Bye."

"See you later."

Eddie hung up, and I dialed in Jack's number. Thankfully, he picked up as well. But he sounded awful.

"Hello?" Jack croaked.

"It's Jerry. What's with your voice, man?" I said, almost laughing.

"Hey, you woke me up! I kind of slept late yesterday!" He said.

"Sorry." I said. "So, anyway, I was thinking and yesterday in all that tension…we forgot about Kim."

Jack laughed. "Now you realize?"

"You're laughing?" I was almost shocked. Jack's laughing? I thought he would be the first one to cry under the covers.

"Dude…she is fine! I saved her! She's at my house right now!"

A flush of relief washed over me. "Oh, thank goodness! I was so worried!"

"Yeah…you haven't thought about Kim until now." Jack said annoyed.

"Whatever. So, what happened? How'd you do it? Did you guys kiss yet?" I laughed.

I knew what Jack's answer would be. It would probably go along the lines of "Shut up, Jerry!" or "Ugh, I don't like Kim! We did not kiss!" but Jack's answer was nothing like that. Instead it was…I think the opposite.

"Maybe," I heard Jack mumble. "Listen, I have to go…thanks for waking me up for nothing by the way."

"Dude, you made out with Kim? Swag!" I laughed.

"What? No I didn't! It was nothing like that…she just gave me quick little kiss for me saving her life, that is all!" He said defensively.

I was almost annoyed now. "Dude, she freaking kissed you, man. Now you HAVE TO ask her out! Hey, you want me to be your wing man? I make a good one! Eh?"

"No! I don't know if I'm ready for that yet…and the last time you meddled, which was yesterday by the way, I ruined Kim's birthday. So, no thank you!"

"Please?" I begged. "Hey, if you won't ask her out, I know plenty of guys that are willing to pay me to get her to go out with them."

"Seriously?" I could feel a pang of jealously in Jack's voice.

"Yeah! So, what do you say? You going to ask Kim out? I'll plan everything out for you! It'll be epic!"

"Okay, you know what, fine," He said irritably. I silently cheered. "Knock yourself out, do whatever. But let's just fix this issue okay? Have you forgotten that our dojo is just burnt stuff on the ground right now? You know what…you'll believe it when you see it. Even it's hard for me to believe."

"Alright, see you in an hour then?"

"Sure…bye Jerry."

"See ya," I hung up…and did what I had to do. I called Milton.

"Hey Jerry," I heard Milton say dully.

"Milton…you'll never guess what I just heard!" I said grinning, and told him everything…that Kim's alive. And that Jack and Kim are _finally _a couple.

_**Part Two: Kim's POV **_

As soon as I stepped into the strip mall, I felt like dying.

It's gone…the Bobby Wasabi Martial Arts Academy is gone...forever. The guys and I stood in front of the dirt, and coal and we couldn't believe our eyes…for second I thought my eyes were deceiving me. There were many people staring at it behind us as well. I really wanted them to leave. Rudy's office…the mats…the doors…everything…gone. All from one explosive. I stepped inside the charred and rubble and heard a crack. I looked down and saw…it was a photo frame. I picked it up. I could faintly see six people smiling at my faces…one of them is me.

"Guys…look at this." I said my voice cracking. They all came up and stared at the burned photo in my hands.

"That was when we won our first competition together," Jack said facing me. I nodded.

"Funny how this survived." I said…my eyes seemed to never pull off from it. It was the only piece of the dojo we had left. Tears were falling out of my eyes, and landed on the picture. I also noticed the Boo signs were just ash now…all my Halloween decorations for nothing. All that time I spent for nothing. But I realized something…

Today was Halloween.

I couldn't believe it…already? How could it…

"WHAT HAPPENED?" We heard a shocked voice, snapping me out of my thoughts. We turned around to see Rudy, his eyes so wide, it could've fell out of his head. I forgot…we haven't really told him anything about this. "I leave you guys in here alone for a couple of hours last night, and THIS is what you do?"

"Rudy," I said telling him to calm down. "Marcus attached an explosive into this dojo."

"He did? But last night, I got a call from Officer Collins at like midnight, saying he was arrested."

"He's arrested? YEAH!" Jerry said, showing a high-five signal to Jack. Jack just shook his head. He put it down.

"Jerry, we're all happy about it. Trust me," Milton said.

"We would be…if our dojo hadn't blown up." Eddie said.

"Okay, someone PLEASE explain to me, how MY dojo got BLOWN UP!" Rudy screamed. Milton came up to Rudy, and told him everything that happened last night…I would've explained, but I think it would've been better for Rudy to hear from a primary source…not from someone who locked herself in the bathroom, and cried like she had no life. When I looked at Jack, he seemed deep in his train of thought, like he forgot something, but didn't know what. I was intrigued by his expression.

"Well, even though Marcus got arrested, what are we going to do about this? Everything is gone! Even…" Rudy's eyes widened.

"What?" I asked.

"THE CERTIFICATES AND AWARDS!" Rudy screamed. He looked like he wanted to go in a corner, and cry. "No! What are we going to do? Now it's gone for good! What am I going to do? How am I going to live? Who's going to feed Tip-Tip? What's-"

"RUDY!" Jack screamed. "Calm down, I remember saving your things! They're…" His voice trailed off.

"Jack, where is it? I know I handed it to you, so don't you blame me!" Eddie said.

"So guys who wants some Falafels?" Jack said, trying to escape. Luckily I caught his arm, before he could start running.

"Jack….where did you leave it?" I asked slowly.

"I put it in a bag! It wasn't that hard!" Rudy said.

"I don't remember where I put them!" Jack blurted. Our eyes widened. For the first time, I was…disappointed in Jack. How could he not know where he put them? Just two days ago, we finally found it, and "reunited" with it…now it's gone…AGAIN!

"What do you mean you don't remember?" Rudy asked, almost hyperventilating.

"Okay, Jack…just retrace your steps. Where did you last have it?" Milton asked Jack.

"Well…I don't know after I jumped in the lake, what happened last night was fuzzy…all I remember is Marcus showing up, the bomb exploding, and saving Kim…I don't know why."

"You jumped in a lake? WHY?" Jerry said in shock.

"By the time I saved Kim from the dojo, there was like five seconds left! The lake was our only option from getting caught on fire!"

"Wait…" I said, thinking hard from last night. Even for me, last night was kind of a blur…probably because of the drowsy medicine Jack's mom gave me…but also after jumping in the freezing water, I couldn't think straight. But I tried remembering from the part when Jack busted in the door to the girl's bathroom….he was holding a bag….I remember that…and also holding my hand….we both ran out and I heard the automatic voice saying "5 seconds until explosion". And Jack took off his jacket, and threw a bag into the bush….wait…the bag!

"Jack! I remember where you put it!" I said, looking at him.

"It sure took you long enough!" Eddie said. I gave him a threatening look, causing him to back away.

"Where? Are they alright? Did they make it?" Rudy said.

"Let's hope!" I said. "Jack you left it near the lake!"

"Oh, thank god! I was afraid it was gone for good!" Rudy exasperated.

"Alright Jack, go get it!" Milton said his eyes widening.

"Yeah, you should, and go fast!" Jerry said looking along with him.

"Run Jack! RUN LIKE THE WIND!" Eddie said.

"Why?" Jack asked, confused. Even at first I was confused as to why Jerry, Eddie and Milton were telling them to run. When I looked in the direction to where the guys were looking at, I realized why. I grabbed Jack's shoulders and turned him around, so he could see what we were all looking at. And Jack immediately dashed to the direction of the lake….inches away from Frank.

Well, this just proves…that Marcus was right…what's been happening in the past 24 hours.

Nothing Gold Can Stay.

_**(Jack's POV) **_

_God Frank, slow down! _

The minute Kim flips me to see Frank running over to the lake; I dashed to catch up with him. I will _not _let him take those documents. Over my dead body. But I had to admit Frank was fast. For someone who got held back, still sitting with seventh graders when he should be in college, he's pretty good at athletic related things.

I ended up inches away from Frank, and caught his throat, and swung it back. I ran faster than ever towards the bushes, where I left the bag, and I saw it hanging on branch. Smiling with relief, I was centimeters away from the strap being in my hands, when someone tugged on my leg, and caused me to fall flat to my stomach. I saw Frank grab the bag, and start running back. Quickly, I rose up and caught up with him once again, and clutched on his collar.

"Hand it over," I growled.

"Yeah right," He scoffed. He threw a punch, but I caught it. I gave him a spin-kick, and he fell to the ground. Frank gave a villainous look, and rose up angrily and gave me a kick causing ME to fall backwards. But that didn't stop me. I flipped to my feet, and he started throwing punches. I dodged, and did something I haven't done in a long time.

I did a Flying Dragon Kick, causing Frank to fall to the bushes…he looked weak, and he gave a grunt, closing his eyes. I walked over to him. I was going to check his pulse, to see if he was…you know….but turns out that was a big mistake.

He kicked me hard in the stomach, and I fell to the ground, clutching it in pain…it felt like it was bleeding, even when that wasn't possible. He gave me a smirk and threw a punch in the same area, causing the pain to sting even more…I couldn't move, because of all that pain…for the first time Jack Anderson was defeated…by Frank. Frank tossed me over like a burger patty and I could feel him kick my back…and I screeched in pain…what was happening? Was I really getting defeated by FRANK?

"Wow! For the first time, I actually won this round! Well, this just proves that if I can't have this, then no one can." He gave me weird smile, and threw the bag, to the direction of the lake. "Happy Halloween, Jack!" He said. And he ran out of the lake with an evil laugh. Forcefully, I rose up even with the pain in my stomach and back, and sprinted towards the lake, and luckily just as it was about to reach the water, I caught it. My heart race slowed, and I let out a huge sigh of relief. _Once again Jack, you have saved the day. _

Although, just running that few feet, made my back hurt like crazy…man Frank kicked that hard! I limped towards the dojo, clutching my stomach, and hunching on my back like an old person, with the bag wrapped around my shoulders. For a minute, I felt like I saved the day and that I was indeed a hero. I felt like I really did save something valuable.

But when I saw the Bobby Wasabi with his face red, screaming at the others in the ashes…that feeling drained away.

They all looked at me, with a little relief, but mostly anxiousness. Kim was the first one to run up to me, with the guys' right behind her. "Jack! You're okay! I was so worried." She looked at my position, and her relieved smile faded away.

"Are you okay?" Rudy said taking off the bag from my arm.

"No…my back isn't doing so well. Frank kicked it….that held-back, frizzy haired freak," I said lying down at the nearest bench to rest my back.

"That idiot!" Jerry said. "Oh…it's ON!" And he did his "Columbian War Chant" again, or as I like to call it, "Jerry's Girl Chant".

"Hey, still in the ashes here!" Bobby Wasabi said, his face still as red as a tomato. Rudy went over to him immediately, and they started discussing something I didn't quite catch.

"Here Jack; let me fix that for you. You know, I am technically qualified to be a physical therapist. I can give massages anywhere, anytime!"

I almost hyperventilated, when Milton came closer to me. Not to be mean or anything, but I don't want him and his bony hands ANYWHERE near my injured back…I'm picturing an even worse condition. "You know what Milton, I think I'm feeling better already I'm just going to-"

_CRACK! _

"OW!" I screamed, not being able to breathe for a second, as Milton had massaged my back for…well…three seconds.

"Jack, are you okay?" Eddie asked me.

"Ow that hurt…that was awful…that…" But my voice trailed off, when I realized…it wasn't hurting anymore. It was good as new. "That fixed my back. Milton, thank you!" I said turning to him.

"See, what did I say?" Milton said proud. I rose from the bench, and Kim took a seat right next to me.

"How'd this happen?" Kim asked me. Before I could answer, I heard Bobby Wasabi and Rudy arguing over something. My back was hurting so much, I couldn't register the fact that Bobby Wasabi was here…and he looked at the remains of his dojo…no wonder that his face is red hot.

"First tell me how _that _happened," I said, gesturing to Bobby's crazed expression.

She let out an anxious sigh. "Bobby Wasabi found out about the explosion of the dojo. He came rushing in, and things were getting ugly. But if you ask me they were none too pretty to begin with." She murmured. I gave a little smile. "He's been screaming at Rudy for the past fifteen minutes, how it was his responsibility, and that he's going to get fired, and he has to repay the damages."

My eyes widened. "What? Well, we need to stand up for him!"

"Jack, we tried." Jerry chimed in. "But that girly, dress-wearing, karate fighting MANIAC, won't believe us! Not even Kim, even when she puts on her 'cute and innocent' face." Jerry said gesturing to Kim's cute and innocent face…but if you ask me, she looks cute all the time. _Really, Jack, really? _

"I think those words can only come from you, Jack." Milton said sitting next to me.

"You're pretty much our only hope from getting Bobby to not fire Rudy…at the least he should be relocated or something…but not fired. We don't want him scrubbing turtle butt again." Eddie said.

Without a second thought, I got out of the bench and walked towards Rudy and Bobby. They both looked like they wanted to cry.

"Bobby, please…" I began.

"That is IT!" Bobby scolded Rudy. "Look at this! Everything was in here! And this was ENTIRELY your responsibility! YOU'RE FIRED!" Bobby screamed with a flip of his long hair.

"No!" I screamed. "Bobby, please hear me out! This wasn't Rudy's fault! He had nothing to do with it!"

"Oh, so would you like to explain to me why I'm STANDING ON ASHES!" He boomed in my face. "And that's Mr. Wasabi to you, boy!"

"Okay first off, you could use a mint Mr. Wasabi!" I snapped, covering my nose. He narrowed his eyes, so I just started reciting what happened from last Saturday night; from the first time we met Marcus thinking that he was a good friend and how Rudy's awards and qualifications got stolen…I explained how we escaped from detention…how we found that weird recording device Marcus planted…how I got framed for the robbery…how Truman bailed us out…and how Marcus was the one to attach the explosive…all the way to today, which happens to be Halloween. Bobby's expression calmed a bit, so….hopefully that's a good sign.

"Mr. Wasabi, Rudy is a great sensei. He did everything he could for all of us. It was all Marcus...he put the bomb in the dojo, when it was closed, so Rudy couldn't possibly be responsible. Now I know we can't get your dojo back by saying this but…whatever happens, please don't fire Rudy. At worst case, relocate him. He may not be our sensei anymore with all this, but he can be a good sensei to others. Please. If you still want to blame someone for this, blame me. I should've tried and deactivated the bomb when I had the chance."

I felt someone's hands grip my shoulder…I turned around to see Kim. "No, Jack…it was my fault. I could've done something, but I was so upset about yesterday being the worst birthday ever, I went into the bathroom, not even knowing what was happening. If Jack hadn't come for me, I would've been dead. So, if anyone, blame me for not doing anything."

"No," We heard the guys say in unison.

"Blame us." Jerry said walking over to us. "We're the ones who met Marcus. If we didn't bump into him, and if we didn't talk to him, none of this would've happened."

"Yeah…we're sorry guys." Milton said. "We really are."

"British guys are stupid!" Eddie said. "Lesson learned."

"Guys…" Rudy said facing us with a hint of a grateful smile. "Thanks for backing me up. But Bobby's right. It's my dojo, therefore I was responsible. What he wants to do with me is what he wants to do. But thank you."

"Please Mr. Wasabi." I said facing him. Instead of him screaming at me, with his foul breath, he had tears in his eyes, and he pulled me into a tight hug, to the point where I couldn't breathe.

"Jack…you remind me so much of your grandfather." He said, almost crying.

"Can't…breathe…" I said as a response, choking the words out. He quickly let me go, and blew into a handkerchief.

"Well, you really do." He said. "You're loyal…courageous…trustworthy…and you have a good heart. Just like him. I miss your granddad more than anything."

Images of my granddad popped up in my head. "He would've wanted me to do this." I said, softly. "Just don't take Rudy's job away. We went through so much hard work to keep his job by getting those qualifications…it would be a waste if you fired him."

"You know what?" He said. "I think you're right Jack. You guys are too important to me…to the Wasabi Code." He walked towards Rudy. "You can keep your job, Rudy."

Rudy gave a grateful smile, and hugged his knees. "Thank you! Thank you so much! How can I ever repay you?"

"By letting go!" He screamed, pushing Rudy off. We laughed, with huge smiles on our faces.

"Wait…" Milton said, looking around. "That problem is solved but…what about this?" He gestured to the remains.

"We're going to have to rebuild this. My gift for you people. And…" He winked at me. "For your grandfather."

I smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Wasabi."

He gave me nod. "You people are lucky I owned this slot of the mall. Otherwise, I'd be having a hard time with mall owners."

Kim smiled. "How long will it take to rebuild?"

"Possibly a month or two…its October now, isn't it? Then, by January you should have a new dojo, which I hope you don't blow up again!"

"Hey, with Jerry and Eddie…you never know." Milton said laughing.

"Hey!" Eddie said.

"Dude…I think it's true." Jerry said. We all laughed.

"So, where will we be training for the next three months?" Rudy asked.

"I have a studio right next to my mansion that I trained in with Jack's grandfather…you are welcome to use it. Just don't tell anyone. I don't want them attaching another explosive."

"We won't," Rudy said, eyeing us. "Right guys?"

"We swear!" We all said in unison.

"Then it's settled!" Bobby said. "I'm going to meet up with the builders who built my mansion right now, to start it. Happy Halloween my fellow Wasabi Warriors. And Jack…I know you'll do great things…just like your grandfather." He gave me wave and with a flip of his black hair, walked off, with his ninja crew behind him. Once he left, we all cheered with joy.

"Jack, thank you!" Rudy said, giving me hug, jumping up and down like a little girl. "How can I ever repay you? Falafels on me? Free trophy? ANYTHING!"

"Hey I got one! Why don't you get off?" I said sarcastically, but still laughing. He pulled away and gave me a grateful smile. The rest of the guys came over to me, and gave me a hug.

"Jack, you did it! We got our dojo back!" Milton said.

"We all did it!" I said, giving everyone grateful smiles.

"Too bad this one is gone, though." Eddie said, looking down. Jerry nudged him.

"Chill out, bro! Our new dojo is going to be double swag!" Jerry said. "Stop thinking about the negatives, think positive, man!" He turned to me, and gave me the bro-hug. "Jack, I don't know how you did it, but well played my man, well played!"

"Thanks Jerry," I said.

Kim came out and gave me hug. "Thanks to you Jack, we got our dojo back. And the certificates, so…I guess this story did have a happy ending." Kim said. I hugged her back, and when she pulled away our eyes met once again. There seemed to be some…affection…in her eyes. We heard Jerry cough loudly, but that didn't stop me from staring at her eyes.

"Well, uh Jack, thank you once again!" Milton said. "We're just going to uh…head over to Falafel Phil's and uh, celebrate! C'mon guys!"

"Nah, I think we can just stay here." Eddie said. Jerry once again nudged him.

"We're leaving them alone." Jerry said gritting his teeth. "Let's go my peeps! Hopefully Phil will give us some free Falafels!"

"I heard they have a combo meal and free drink special!" Rudy said. They're faces all brightened, and they ran over to Falafel Phil's, which surprisingly wasn't harmed from the explosion. Kim just stared into my eyes but sadly I notice her face suddenly darkened.

"Kim? You okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine it's just…" Her voice trailed off. "Remember how you gave me that necklace for my birthday?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, when I overheard you telling bad things about me, I threw it on the ground, and I don't know where it is anymore."

At first I wanted to tell her it was okay and that it wasn't her fault that she lost it…but then I felt something on my jeans pocket. I took it out, and saw a golden necklace with the letters KC engraved on it. I looked at Kim, and gave her a smile, while she was looking down at her feet. I lifted her head, and locked the necklace around her neck.

"I believe this necklace belongs to you, Kim." I said, smiling. Her face suddenly brightened, after double-checking the pendant, and smiled at me.

"You still had it!" She said smiling. "Jack, this was the best present I ever got. I shouldn't have thrown it away. Just don't tell the others that I liked yours the best."

I laughed, and pulled a strand of hair away from her face. She laughed softly.

"So, you really think that this story has a happy ending?" I asked.

"I don't know…you tell me." She said. I leaned in, and for once without interruptions, kissed her. And when I pulled away, we both ended up laughing quietly.

"So, was that one real, or just another thanks-for-saving-my-life one?" I asked.

She laughed. "I'm going to go with real," She said smiling.

"I think this story did have a happy ending." I said. Her face brightened.

"I think so too…what's weird to me is that we kissed while standing on nothing but ashes…on Halloween."

"Well, this wasn't how I envisioned our…second…kiss." I said, laughing. "So do you want to catch up with the guys…get some free Falafel?"

"Sure," She said smiling. I took her hand, and we both walked out of the dojo, and towards Falafel Phil's. As we were all laughing and eating, I started recollecting everything that happened in the past week…there were hard times, there were scary times. There were romantic times, and there were funny times. But as Kim was leaning on my shoulder, and as were laughing with the guys, like nothing bad ever happened, I realized I couldn't feel happier. And I know that my granddad would be proud of me…that even though he's not physically with me, he's still there…in the heart.

One thing is for sure…this is one Halloween I will never forget.

**Important A/N- The End! Tear…the story is over! But don't worry; we have an EPILOGUE coming up as promised! Hope you guys liked the ending! And see? No Cliffhangers! You're welcome! Although, we don't see how we can make a cliffhanger for the last chapter of the story…we're not that evil, guys! Or are we? Loll! So, anyway, Jack and Kim have finally admitted their love, and the Marcus finally got arrested! And, the Wasabi Warriors are getting a new dojo! In the epilogue, I'll jump into three months later, when the dojo is rebuilt, and ready for opening in Kim's Point Of View, since I ended it with Jack's this time! So you guys can see how the new dojo turned out to be…better, worse or the same! **

**Once again, thank you so much for reading our story, and reviewing! It means the world to us! Thank you guys so much! And now that this story is over, we will go to Locked In and finish that…maybe Alyss Mei and I will work on another story…after we finish Locked In! She's a really good friend of mine, and an amazing writer…I love working with her! Writing this story with her has been amazing! She's so sweet and again an amazing writer! So working with her has been incredible! **

**LOVE YOU GUYS! Thanks for reading Halloween Thief! **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei.**

**PS-For those Big Time Rush fans out there, I've created a fanfic called Big Time Movie! Read and Review Please! **


	13. Epilogue

**A/N- Hey y'all! Alyss Mei and I are here for the last time, with ****the epilogue for Halloween Thief! We won't consider this a chapter really, but it'll be in the format of it, like as long as a chapter, but...you know what call it whatever you want, a bonus chapter, a chapter 13…but I prefer Epilogue! And it will all be in Kim's POV, since I ended it with Jack's last time. Review on this, please! Hope you love it! And, well…yeah, that's it really! Enjoy the epilogue, as promised! **

**AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! 3 **

_**Three Months Later…**_

_**(Kim's POV) **_

I slammed my locker shut, with excitement and giddiness. Today was the day we _finally _get to see our new and rebuilt dojo. The whole mall has been shut down for the entire time, except the restaurants, because they wanted to see what they could do with our dojo…and judging by Bobby Wasabi's everyday smiles, I'm assuming that it's going to look amazing. Don't get me wrong, training in Bobby Wasabi's studio where he trained for the first time with Jack's granddad was an incredible experience…but I miss my dojo. I miss walking into it. I miss seeing Rudy's office. I miss seeing the mats. I miss everything about it.

But it's no time to be sad…today's supposed to be a good day, and I'm going to keep it that way. I was about to grab my Vera Bradley bag, when suddenly, my vision blackened.

_Oh my god! Who turned out lights? What's happening? _

I felt warm palms around my eyes. At first I seemed to almost be hyperventilating. "What…who… is this?" I said my voice cracking.

Then I felt someone whisper in my ear. "Your biggest nightmare, Kimmy."

I realized who it was, and I quickly got his hands out of my eyes. I turn around to see Jack cracking up. "JACK!" I screamed, smacking him with my tote bag. "You scared me to death!"

"Oh…works every time!" He said. I folded my arms around my chest, waiting for his apology.

"That wasn't funny!" I said, but couldn't help laughing at myself a little bit.

"No, it was _extremely_ funny!" He said. I gave him my death glare, and he pulled me into a quick hug. "Aw, c'mon Kim, you know I was just messing with you. I would never hurt my favorite girl."

"Aw, you're so sweet," I said, hugging him back. "But try one like that again, and I will stuff a pillow in your face while you sleep at night until you stop kicking," I pulled away and gave him a smile.

"Yeah, but then you would have no boyfriend…and then where would you be?" He asked.

"Hey, to me you're still my best friend…just with more alone time, and more hugging and more kissing, I guess." I said, laughing.

He laughed. "So, have you seen the guys?" He asked me.

"I don't know, but if I'm not wrong Jerry's probably in detention for putting that whoopie cushion on 's chair."

"Ooh, that's not good." He said. "So then do you just want to-"

"I'M HERE!" I heard a scream. I looked up and saw Milton, Jerry and Eddie rushing down the stairs, like they were running away from something.

"Whoa, what happened?" I said, as they were panting form all that sprinting.

"We…broke…Jerry…out…of…detention…AGAIN!" Eddie managed.

"Let's go to our new dojo, NOW!" Milton squealed. "So we can get away from Mr. Ricardi!"

"I think he's got the chainsaws! RUN!" Jerry screamed, and we all ran out of the school, and towards our new dojo...at this point, even with all the running, I was still the Ecstatic Kim.

"WHOA!" We all echoed, as we laid our eyes on our brand new dojo.

I have to admit…Bobby Wasabi's people did an amazing job with the dojo. The logo of the dojo completely changed, and the dojo was a little bigger than before. Contemporary style pillars stretched across, and Rudy's office was filled with now new and cool furniture. A flat screen television covered one wall of the dojo and Chinese writing and painted plastered a few walls as well.

"So? What do you guys think?" Bobby Wasabi said raising his eyebrows and putting on a big smile with a flip of his hair. "Turned out pretty good, right? You think I gave it that number one dojo factor?"

"Oh, it just looks so beautiful! I'm not going to cry…not going to cry!" Rudy said, blowing into a handkerchief. I gave him a pat on the shoulder, rolling my eyes playfully.

"This place looks incredible! It's even nicer than my room, and I decorated that all by myself!" I said. Jack laughed.

"Whoa, it's TOTAL SWAG, WOO!" Jerry said giving Bobby Wasabi a bro-handshake which Bobby didn't seem to understand. Jack put his head in his hands, stupefied.

"This looks so intricate!" Milton said, looking around the dojo in awe. "Those geometric patterns…that detailed design on the sides…the logo…and even the Chinese symbols and artwork…holy Christmas nuts!"

"Christmas just passed Milton…hello!" Eddie said, shaking his head.

"You know," Jack said, thinking hard. "This looks really similar to-"

"My training studio, I know," Bobby said looking around. "But I wanted to incorporate some of the architecture that was in my first training studio and give it that sentimental value. Your grandfather designed my studio, you know."

Jack looked up at him, and gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks Bobby…granddad would've loved this."

"He sure would've." He said. "See that Chinese writing on the wall over there?" He pointed to the side wall, with an engraved script framed. At first, it just looked like just a regular piece of artwork to hang for decoration…but from the way Bobby looked at it…it seemed much more than that.

"What does it say?" I asked.

"It's the Wasabi Code written in Chinese…I figured it would give this dojo more meaning than some Chinese name that rhymes…people always thought my name was weird…even during senior prom I had to go out with Hannah Montana!"

"Whoa, she lived fifty years ago? That's weird, man!" Jerry said.

"No, there was an actual girl named Hannah Montana….and trust me, she looked nothing like how gorgeous Miley Cyrus looks." I just shook my head, and decided to change the subject.

"So, you wanted this dojo to have more value shown out?" I asked.

"Yes…and it seemed to have turned out well. Well…hope you enjoy your new dojo! I'm going to get me some sushi! Let's go ninjas!" And they all walked out of our new dojo, leaving us with awed smiles on our faces.

"Looks like we have a new training place! Yeah, buddy!" Rudy said, doing a little dance.

I looked at Jack. "Hey, look it's a new place where I can break records on how many times I've beaten Jack!"

The guys made dissing noises, and Jack looked at me, flashing that cute smile of his. _Yeah…I said cute. _

"So, is that a challenge?" He asked me.

"Just because I'm your girlfriend, doesn't mean I still can't fight…unless you've gotten weaker?" I said. More dissing. I stepped onto the brand new mold-free mat and so did Jack.

"May the best one win," He said getting ready in his defense position.

"Oh, so you _want _me to win? Wow Jack…you're a little too loyal." I said, flashing on a smile.

"You just got BURNED by your own girlfriend, Jack!" I heard Jerry yell. We both got in our defense position, waiting for someone to give us the signal.

"Ready...? FIGHT!" Rudy screamed. We both threw intense punches and kicks at eachother, all dodging it. We both knew this was for fun, so I went easy on him. But to no use. After flipping me over, I realized…he beat me.

"Ha! My first win!" Jack said. He helped me up, and I just gave him a smile. "I didn't hurt you didn't I?" He asked, masking his concern on.

"Well played Anderson…well played…we'll have to see next time." I said, giving him a high five.

"Well now that that's settled, let's all take a family photo!" Rudy said.

"But genetically speaking, we aren't a family…it's not physically possible…we would have to have similar chromosomes and some resemblance…and of course be blood related…" Milton said.

"Who knows Milton? Maybe I'm your long lost brother!" Jerry said.

"GAH!" Milton screamed. "I want a human as a brother not a Jerry!" He whined.

"Guys!" I yelled. "What Rudy meant was that even if we don't go on the same blood line, we're still a family, because we all love and care for eachother."

"We're more than friends…we're a family." Jack said. "So come on, group picture!" Rudy set up the camera, and quickly squeezed in between us, with Jack's arm around my shoulder, my arm around Jerry's and continuing on to the opposite ends of Milton and Eddie.

"Say cheese!" Rudy said as the camera was beeping.

But, I didn't want to say cheese. We all looked at eachother and realized what we were going to say, so our picture can be perfect…and have that sentimental value that makes up our dojo. A word that will live on with us forever. A name.

"WASABI!"

**LAST A/N- Okay, that's a wrap! TEAR! It's the END of Halloween Thief! Wow…we've been doing this for TWO months! Well, we hope you loved this story, and we hoped you like the epilogue! And I'm happy to say, Locked In will go out of hiatus, and will start being updated! Sorry for not updating that story in like a month, but don't worry we will resume on that! But we hope you loved this story! Thanks so much for reviewing! IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US! Also, we're going to need help creating our new story! SO, we're reaching out to you guys once again! If you guys have any good ideas please feel free to PM me or Alyss Mei any ideas and you could be co-responsible for our next story! Thanks! Click the review button below, and tell us what you all think…sequel or no sequel? **

**Well, this story is officially OVER, once again Alyss Mei and I want to thank you AGAIN for reading and reviewing! LOVE YOU GUYS! And we wish you happy holidays! Consider this our Christmas present to you all! :D 3 **

**PEACE. LOVE. HAPPINESS. **

**-Taylor and Alyss Mei**


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